Oscar Klefbom likely out for a while and it sounds pretty serious.

There's no sugar coating this ladies and gentlemen, it sounds like very bad news for the Edmonton Oilers. 

On Monday morning National hockey League insider Darren Dreger dropped some news regarding the health of Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom, some rather concerning news. Dreger revealed that Klefbom was currently undergoing "treatment" in Sweden and added that Klefbom was looking at a lengthy recovery process regardless of what was coming next. Dreger also indicated that surgery was a likely possibility, although he would not confirm that 100% at the time of his report. 

Now that in and of itself would be bad enough, but comments made by Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland on Monday made things sound even worse for Klefbom. Holland began by letting reporters know that the veteran defenseman would not be with the Oilers to start next season, a pretty sobering thought given that we don't even know when next season will officially begin.

"He played last year with an aggravated shoulder," said Holland. "He is waiting to see if the shoulder can get to the point where he doesn't need surgery. There is some unknown, and I'm waiting to hear his decision. Based on the info I have we won't have him or to start with."

Again these words sound like a serious cause for concern, but it was another statement that Holland made during his media availability that really raised some red flags for me. Holland made it seem like the decision that Klefbom currently has before him, a decision on whether or not to go under the knife, would be one that could have long term ramifications on his quality of life moving forward.

"It's not that simple...He's going to have to make a decision that's very important for his life, so I have to respect that." - Ken Holland on Oscar Klefbom making a decision on shoulder surgery and future of his career."

The implications of what Holland is saying here really does make this whole situation come off as rather dire, and I have to wonder just how bad Klefbom's shoulder has been damaged to have the general manager speaking in these kind of terms. Whatever decision he makes at this point we will be rooting for him to make a swift and speedy recovery.