It is never easy to foresee the unforeseen. Injuries happen every day in the NHL and here at Fantasy Alarm, our goal will be to help you try to stay on top of those maladies. Counting all the latest bumps, bites, and bruises, there were 86 players held out of lineups. Five of those are long term injuries from a previous year. Those players are likely not to return or have retired. That leaves 81 who have been hurt this season. Here are some of the more notable ouches out there and their possible prognosis on this Friday.
With the decrease in injuries (14% drop from last week), the column is a little lighter which means some good news for fantasy owners.
Centers
Mika Zibanejad will still be out a few more weeks and is still in a boot. However, he is at least on the ice and passing pucks, which is encouraging. He is wearing a walking boot which will come off soon enough. Then it is all about practicing non-contact then contact. At any rate, he is progressing right on schedule. There have been no setbacks as of yet.
Jonathan Marchessault is day-to-day with a lower-body injury again and one has to wonder if it is either a groin or, more likely, a hamstring injury. Any time a player has concerns about playing, it becomes troublesome. Monitor his status stringently over the weekend to see if there are any changes. Being prudent here will save one a ton of headaches because the type of injury is so fickle.
Wingers
Nikita Kucherov is ailing from an undisclosed injury. This is something that usually is day-to-day in nature, but he was held out Wednesday night. It was later revealed to be a lower-body issue. Suspicions arose Wednesday that Kucherov was sore and those reports were confirmed when he did not participate in warm-ups. He has not been sent home from the road trip, so that is a positive. Further word should come Friday afternoon on his playing status.
Max Domi is on Injured Reserve due to a fight. He got into an altercation while defending a teammate and was pulled out of the game with either an eye or head issue. As it turned out, a hand injury was the cause and one that required surgery. This will cost Domi a couple of months and fantasy owners cannot feel very good about that. It looked like the winger was turning things around too.
Rick Nash returned Thursday night after a groin injury sidelined him for almost a week. According to reports, Nash blamed the soft ice in Brooklyn for the issue. Whatever the case may be, the fact is the winger is 100% and that is all that matters. That should provide a boost for the Rangers power play and is great news for fantasy owners.
Defensemen
Ryan McDonagh also returned on Thursday night after a brief battle with the flu. This time of year is always tough on players with everything from upper respiratory infections to bronchitis to mystery flu and viruses. It is just something to watch at least for the next month or two. McDonagh was utilized normally and all is 100%.
Martin Marincin is out for a bit with what is being described as an undisclosed injury. This does not appear to be all that serious. However, he has been out several days now and could potentially miss another week or so. It is something to be monitored but Marincin only contributes on a fringe basis fantasy wise anyway. This will not break you.
Goalies
Jonathan Quick will now be out until at least the middle of February with his groin injury. This timetable could even extend into early March but management thinks that is not as likely. It was feared in October that Quick could miss as much as 4-5 months and it turns out that is the reality. This more definite news will cause season long (not keeper) owners to consider cutting bait for alternatives that can be used now. Expect another update in a few weeks.
Craig Anderson is still helping his wife, Nicholle, in her fight against cancer. Basically, not much has changed and unless you see confirmation, do not bother to insert him into any of your lineups. Ottawa is in a bit of a situation as teams are figuring out Mike Condon and scoring three or more goals on him on a regular basis. The hope is that Anderson can return sooner rather than later.
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Chris Wassel can be heard on Fantasy Hockey X every week and on various places throughout the internet. He can be followed on Fantasy Alarm and Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. A special thanks this week to nhl.com, Helene Elliott, George Richards, Dan Rosen, and Selene Parekh of The Fantasy Doctors for all of their information.