EDMONTON - By the time Edmonton Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin gets the go-ahead from the medical staff to return to the net, all the trade talk should be exhausted, which would quite all right by him.

The veteran will be out seven to days with a groin injury, which will see him return no sooner than the day before the National Hockey League’s Feb. 27 trade deadline.

“The results aren’t there this year again, but I think we’re on the right track. And I really do like it here,” he said on Monday. “You do want to play games that mean something and it would be nice to be in the playoffs but … I want to see this team succeed.

“When that happens, I want to be a part of it.”

General manager Steve Tambellini said last week he expected to field some calls from playoff-bound teams but didn’t want to move Khabibulin, who still has one year remaining on his contract.

Now Khabibulin is out after tweaking his groin in the first period of Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

Yann Danis, recalled from the Oklahoma City Barons, will meet the team in Calgary and will back up Devan Dubnyk against the Flames. It will be up to Dubnyk to make sure that Danis doesn’t have a chance to step in and show off the game he’s been polishing in the American Hockey League.

The 30-year-old leads the AHL with 1.98 goals-against average and has a record of 21-10-1 in 33 games with the Barons.

He has played 49 NHL games, starting with the Montreal Canadiens in 2005-06 and ending with a 20-minute relief appearance for the New Jersey Devils on March 28, 2010 against the Philadelphia Flyers. In the off-season, Danis signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Oilers and took over from where Martin Gerber and Jeff Deslauriers left off.

Olivier Roy will move up from the Stockton Thunder while Danis is with the Oilers.

“I’m going to play as if Khabby is back there. I’m going to continue to earn starts,” said Dubnyk. “The only thing that’s important is to play some good games for these guys.”

Dubnyk has played 29 games this season, six fewer than he played through during the 2010-11 campaign. He’ll have at least four games to try to show he’s ready to start taking on more starts.

He played a career-high stretch of six games last month, only to play spectator for the next three.

“You do get in a rhythm,” he said. “Mistakes are going to happen, but it is a little easier when you’re playing a lot. You can let it roll off a little easier rather than thinking, ‘Ah, this is my one game in two weeks and then I go and do that.’ ”

Khabibulin told Dubnyk during the first TV timeout in Sunday’s opening period that he had a groin issue but he still doesn’t know what set it off.

He does, however, expect to be back sooner rather than later.

“It doesn’t feel too bad,” said Khabibulin. “I’ve had groin injuries in the past and this one doesn’t feel as bad. I can’t really remember anything sticking out that might have caused it. Just showed up. I probably could have finished the game, but a decision was made not to push it.

“I don’t anticipate missing too much time.”

OIL DROPS: Centre Sam Gagner, who left Sunday’s game for a brief stretch in the opening period after being whacked on the wrist by Vancouver defenceman Kevin Bieksa, did not skate on Monday but is expected to return to the lineup against the Flames … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins practised with the team in Edmonton and travelled to Calgary, an indication he’s close to returning from his shoulder injury.

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/jirelandEJ