PROJECTED LINEUP: McDavid ready to return against San Jose

EDMONTON, AB – “I’ll play tonight,” Connor McDavid said.

Those three words are exactly what Oilers fans and McDavid’s teammates had hoped to hear following Monday's morning skate at Rogers Place after their captain confirmed that he'll make his return to the lineup tonight against the Sharks following a three-game absence with a lower-body injury.

After taking a week to recover from his minor ailment, McDavid feels ready to go for Edmonton’s final home game of the regular season and believes he’s balanced his recovery as well as he could have throughout the entire process, trying to maintain sharpness and get back to full health before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“I think it's a balance of everything,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a balance of health and making sure you're ready to go; making sure your game's where it needs to be.”

McDavid hasn’t suited up since suffering the injury late in the third period of a 4-2 win over the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome more than a week ago in the Battle of Alberta. If he wasn’t going to play this week, that would’ve been almost two full weeks without game action for the captain, which to him is not a comfortable feeling heading into the most important part of the year.

“20-plus days between games isn’t really an option for me, so I'll get one in here tonight,” he continued.

McDavid also needs one more assist to become the fourth different player in League history to record 100 assists in a single season next to Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov leads McDavid by 11 points for first in the NHL's scoring race with 141 points in 79 games and needs two more helpers in his team's matchup with the Sabres tonight to accomplish the same feat as McDavid.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch reiterated that it was paramount for McDavid to be feeling 100 percent before he returned to the lineup, and the bench boss believes the last week should cast away any doubt left on their leader's health heading into the final three games of the regular season.

"We were very cautious with this and we didn't want it to persist and get worse or just be a nagging thing that he had to play through," he said. "And we – our doctors and our training staff – feel that he's recovered and is good to go, and he shouldn't have any regression.”

The timing of McDavid's return is fortunate after Knoblauch revealed winger Evander Kane will miss Monday's meeting with San Jose due to maintenance, which is leading to some line shuffling for the bench boss before tonight's game.

McDavid's return to the lineup will come on a top line consisting of Zach Hyman and Adam Henrique, who will play on the wings between the Oilers captain. Henrique mentioned he's enjoyed being McDavid's teammate and observing the way he operates as the best player in the world, but is excited to get a look at what kind of a linemate he can be.

"Exciting opportunity playing the wing with him," he said. "Watching his game from up close and being here has been pretty eye-opening, so to get an opportunity to play with him is pretty cool."

According to Natural Stat Trick, Henrique and McDavid have spent only 4:52 of ice time together this season, but they've out-chanced opponents 6-2 and outscored them 2-0 in their limited opportunities.

That pales in comparison to Nugent-Hopkins who has been alongside McDavid for 531:22 this campaign, but Knoblauch said the two forwards have similar abilities when it comes to staying defensively solid, making plays offensively and both winning and keeping possession.

"Henrique's is very similar to Nugent-Hopkins' game – just very defensive aware and then, also just being able to continue plays and not give away pucks," he said.

"When you're playing with guys like Leon and Connor, who can make so many plays and they're dangerous anytime they have the puck, just being able to get the puck in their hands and not having to always dump and chase; or making a bad pass and giving that puck away; or being able to maintain possession of the puck is really important.

"I think Adam's really good at doing that and hopefully, they can have some chemistry and build off something tonight."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. San Jose:

Henrique - McDavid - Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins - Draisaitl - Foegele
Holloway - McLeod - Perry
Janmark - Carrick - Brown
Ryan

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Desharnais
Stecher

Skinner
Pickard