Connor McDavid could return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup against the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Place on Friday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-WI, FS-N+, NHL.TV).
The center, fourth in the NHL with 81 points (30 goals, 51 assists) in 55 games, practiced Thursday after first skating on his own. He has missed five games because of a left quad muscle injury sustained Feb. 8.
"We're taking it day by day," McDavid said Thursday. "We'll see. I think the plan was just to go out and see how I felt this morning. I felt good. We knew practice wouldn't be too hard or too physical.
"You just don't want to feel it [pain] anymore. It's been slowly going away. We're getting to the point where I'm not feeling it anymore."
Oilers coach Dave Tippett said he liked what he saw of McDavid on Thursday but stopped short of saying whether he would play against the Wild.
"He's moving well," Tippett said. "We'll see where he is in the morning. He's day to day ... he took a good step today but we're not over-promising anything."
McDavid rejoined the Oilers on Wednesday after traveling to Toronto to work with his doctors during Edmonton's three-game road trip last week. The injury was expected to keep McDavid out 2-3 weeks; Saturday would be two weeks since the injury occurred.
"He feels good," Oilers general manager Ken Holland said. "He went out by himself this morning. I talked to him briefly yesterday. I know he's going to go on the road trip with us to California, so he's doing good. I don't have any timeline, but he's doing very good. I don't think he's that far away."
Edmonton (32-21-7) is 3-1-1 in the five games McDavid has missed and has a one-point lead on the Vancouver Canucks in the Pacific Division. The Oilers begin a three-game road trip at the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday and are also are without defenseman Oscar Klefbom (shoulder), and forwards James Neal (foot) and Zack Kassian (suspended).
"I don't think it surprised me," Holland said of Edmonton's performance without McDavid. "I think our team all year long, the coaching staff, Dave Tippett, has instilled ... they come to work every day, they check, they compete. Guys dig in and obviously with Connor out, it was a great opportunity. [Center] Leon [Draisaitl] stepped up, and [center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins] and that line with [forward Kailer Yamamoto] ... I'm not surprised.
"When you get injures it's an opportunity for other people. They're waiting for their chance to play more minutes and have a bigger role. We thought we had good depth. We've talked about [Yamamoto] coming up, the young players are playing good. I think we've got better depth than I think maybe a lot of people thought."
McDavid praised his teammates for the way they played without him.
"We say it every day," he said. "I preach almost every day how good the guys are in here on and off the ice and now everyone is getting to see it. They're getting the credit they deserve. They've been so good and I'm looking forward to getting back out there with them."
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