Report: Injury preventing Oilers from exercising buyout option.

The Edmonton Oilers may be finding themselves in a situation similar to the one the Minnesota Wild dealt with a few seasons ago with goaltender Niklas Backstrom.

Back then the Wild were unable to use one of their buyouts on Backstrom due to the fact that he remained on long term injured reserve after a serious elbow injury. On a day where the Edmonton Oilers may have wished to exercise a buyout on injured defenceman Andrew Ference they can't because according to a report from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal he has yet to recover from an injury of his own.

Ference's agent Kurt Overhardt informed Matheson that not only has Ference not recovered but that he is still far from any such recovery, likely meaning the Oilers won't get an importunity before the NHL buyout window closes on June 30th.

“He’s not cleared to play ice hockey and a cartilage repair takes a long time,” said Overhardt. “He’s nowhere near being cleared so it’s not even an issue. If you are hurt, you’re hurt. He has to be able to run, he has to be able to skate.”

There has also been some speculation that Ference could choose to retire, although at this point those are just rumors.

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