The Injury Ninja Brigade – December 30th     

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 95 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 90 who have been hurt this season. Here are some of the more notable ouches out there and their possible prognosis on this Friday.

With New Year’s Day approaching, the column is not as heavy as usual. That is good news for all fantasy hockey owners.

Centers

Zack Smith has been put on the shelf due to an upper body injury suffered earlier in the week. He will miss at least a week and the pivot was on a pretty good stretch. The pivot will miss several games at a minimum and potentially more. Keep an eye on the situation because it might be more significant.

Tyler Toffoli is on the injured reserve with a lower body injury reaggravated on Tuesday. It is not believed to be a week to week malady but significant enough to keep him out of action for at least another week. It is believed to be a groin issue / leg problem so expect another update in 5-7 days.

Aleksander Barkov is day to day with a lower body injury. It has not been deemed serious so do not be surprised if the center is back by next week at the worst. Over the weekend, we should have a little more information on this.

Wingers

Michael Raffl is ailing from a right knee injury that is only day to day right now yet he has missed over a week now. The prognosis is he should miss another 5-10 days or so. He has been working out on and off to try and strengthen the knee. However, he is not in game shape or close at the moment.

Rick Nash is still on the injury list after a groin injury to the other side of the nether region (suffered December 18th). This will sideline him for a while longer because the winger has not even tried to test the groin out vigorously yet. Until he can even more than just skate lightly, the forward will not play for the Rangers. It is wait another week and see what happens.

Defensemen

P.K. Subban will be out another few games with the upper body injury. The Predators still have not placed him on the injured reserve and is day to day. It is still believed to be a shoulder issue that has proved to be more bothersome than expected.

Andrej Sekera is simply day to day with the flu. This seems to be a theme throughout the league this time of year. People spend time with family and magically illness spreads like wildfire. The Edmonton defenseman should be fine in a few days but he will be monitored because the illness has been a little stronger in hockey players this season.

Brian Dumoulin joined Kris Letang and the other Pittsburgh defensemen on the injury list for Pittsburgh with a broken jaw. This did cause him to have to go for surgery which will cost him about 4-6 weeks. This should be a straightforward recovery and yes Dumoulin will have a liquid diet for a little while.

Goalies

Henrik Lundqvist was out for Thursday but was able to backup so do not fret. He will be ready for the weekend after recovering from the flu. It did cause him to miss another two starts which seems to be some bizarre theme this year with goalies.

Matt Murray suffered a lower body injury on Wednesday against Carolina is now out week to week. He will eventually be downgraded from day to day to the injured reserve list depending on progress. The Penguins did call up Tristan Jarry and that was the first sign of something more than minor. Updates will come as his situation changes one way or the other.

Semyon Varlamov and his wonky groin will keep him out a little bit longer. He was thought only to be out a few days and expected to return after the break but that was not the case. The goalie previously injured his groin earlier in the month then promptly hurt it again right after coming back. He has not practiced even. With how bad Colorado has been playing (Varlamov included), his fantasy relevance just fades by the day.

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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, Dave Molinari and Selene Parekh of The Fantasy Doctors for all their information.