Happy belated New Year! 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 98 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 93 who have been hurt this season. Here are some of the more notable ouches out there and their possible prognosis on this Friday.
With bye weeks upon us, one would think the rate of injuries is not a heavy but that would be wrong. Here is some on the latest walking wounded.
Centers
Ryan Getzlaf is day to day with a lower body injury believed to be suffered around New Years. This was not believed to be serious and the coaching staff seems to think he could be skating on Friday with an increasingly likely weekend return. The Anaheim center might even play tonight. It is a very fluid situation so expect changes to it.
Elias Lindholm is now on the injured reserve with an upper body injury suffered before Christmas. It has been a persistent malady so there is no timetable for his return. He is eligible to come off the IR but will not do so until next week at the earliest.
Brian Boyle is day to day with a leg err 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. It could still go either way but the winger had an incredibly hot stretch before going down.
Wingers
Matt Puempel is ailing from a concussion that has put him on the injured reserve. The time starts ticking here as far as when does he skate without contact, does he have any setbacks, etc. There is no such thing as a mild concussion so all we can do is wait for progress. It may be days, weeks, or even months. Stay tuned on this malady.
Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher are both day to day with upper body injuries. How often do two teammates on the same line end up with the same basic injury type on the same day. However, it is not quite that simple. Byron was hit in the head by Patrick Sharp and may or may not be placed on the injured reserve. As for Gallagher, the rumor is this is a hand injury and he was sent back to Montreal to further evaluation. It may just be a matter of time before we find out some grave news or not.
Defensemen
P.K. Subban will be out a few more weeks with the upper body injury. The Predators have now placed him on the injured reserve and it is believed that this will not be a season ending issue. Though his shoulder was banged up, that healed. It turned out there is a disc issue in his back that may or may not be herniated. Over the next couple weeks, rest should either help it or surgery becomes a more likely reality.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic and David Schlemko are both out for the San Jose Sharks and that has had an effect (see Thursday game against Minnesota). Vlasic is on the injured reserve with an upper body injury while Schlemko is day to day with another upper body malady. Vlasic was feared to have anything from a concussion to facial fractures and worse. However, it looks like he may be only out for a few more games. Getting hit in the face is never pleasant. As for Schlemko, he is simply being allowed to heal his injury after it is believed he had been hurt a few weeks ago with the same ailment. Schlemko is a depth defenseman so just wait and see.
Andy Greene is day to day after taking a puck to the face on Tuesday against Carolina. It resulted in an effort where New Jersey held on for dear life against Carolina. He has not taken the ice in practice since and is expected to miss Friday's game against Toronto. Inside sources keep saying he will be held out but media is holding out hope all for an ironman streak. The captain’s value is clear as blocked shots may be plentiful elsewhere if he is out. This will be followed throughout the day on social media.
Goalies
Ben Bishop is still on the injured reserve with the lower body/groin injury but the good news is he is still on target to return in mid-January. The significance is obvious as Tampa Bay has really hit the skids defensively and not even Andrei Vasilevskiy has been able to handle it (11 goals in last two games allowed). Teams are finding life easy to score on Tampa and that was not the case last year. Bishop is needed back and quick to take the load off Vasilevskiy.
Semyon Varlamov and his wonky groin will be available for Friday’s game against the New York Islanders. The questions are as follows. Is he healthy? Does it matter? Colorado has 25 regulation losses on the season already and their defense is an absolute sieve. They are even worse at home. Varlamov has a goals against average above three and a below average save percentage. Can he make a difference in a lost season where the team looks like it is playing two different styles simultaneously? The only thing any of us can do is wait and see.
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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, Chris Ryan, Dan Rosen, and Selene Parekh of The Fantasy Doctors for all their information.