It is never easy to foresee the unforeseen. Injuries happen every day in the NHL, and here at FanTrax, our goal will be to help you try to stay on top of those maladies with our weekly Injury Report. Counting all the latest bumps, bites, and bruises, there were 67 players held out of lineups. Several of those are long-term injuries from a previous year. Those players are likely not going to return or have retired. Here are some of the more notable maladies out there and their possible prognosis.
Injury Updates
Centers
Patrice Bergeron missed another week but could return on Thursday. The lower body injury seems to be loosening its grip. Boston could use the forward in the lineup for obvious reasons. However, the same cannot be said for Leon Draisaitl. The Edmonton forward has an eye injury and a concussion. It is safe to say he is out for the next week. This Oilers team is just not the same without him and he is arguably so valuable on fantasy hockey teams. Injury impact is extremely high here. As for Ryan Getzlaf’s back, he is day to day and will be a wait to see.
Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle did suffer a significant injury last week. His fractured leg (fibula) will cost him several months at a minimum. His relevance as far as fantasy hockey this season is pretty much down to zero. The Wild are not the only team snake bitten with injuries but significant players keep succumbing to maladies. There were many that thought Coyle could take that next step this year. Fantasy wise it will be best to wait until 2018-19.
Wingers
David Backes is just about to return from diverticulitis. That return may come as soon as Thursday night against Vancouver. It looks like Wayne Simmonds was fortunate to dodge a trip to the IR. He was pulled out of Tuesday night’s game for precautionary reasons. On the other hand, Loui Eriksson suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain (partial tear) and will be out 4-6 weeks for the Canucks. At first, the injury was believed to be not as serious.
Mikael Granlund is out another week with a groin injury. This has the feel of being a slight tear, but no one has said it officially. Granlund was certainly not expecting a start like this. The news gets worse with the Minnesota Wild as Zach Parise (back) had another setback. Parise will be out through the weekend and likely beyond. If that was not enough, Nino Niederreiter suffered a high left ankle sprain and will be out for several weeks at least. This could be longer. Minnesota is a mess injury wise much like Anaheim.
Defensemen
Dustin Byfuglien and Erik Karlsson have both returned. Owners may have to temper expectations a bit early on with Karlsson at least. Then again, his return was welcomed. Give him some time and be patient. The same cannot be said for Matt Niskanen. He broke his hand against New Jersey and was placed on the LTIR. That means he will miss at least the next three weeks or so. It will boost the value of John Carlson but hurt Washington overall. The number of significant injuries to key players just seems to go up every single week.
Some minor injury news came in as Trevor van Riemsdyk was officially diagnosed with a concussion. He was placed on the injured reserve as a result. Also, Matt Hunwick was placed there this week. Furthermore, add Alexander Edler to that list for Vancouver. It has been some kind of crazy this October. The scary part is things have only just begun.
Goalies
Some goalies are hurting, but that is because of their on-ice performance. However, Antti Raanta did suffer a lower-body injury and that may keep him out until next week. Arizona is hurting as it is and losing their starting goalie does not help. Fantasy wise it just means teams will feast even more at the expense of the Coyotes.
The injury to Marc-Andre Fleury is more dangerous. Fleury suffered another concussion. This time it was against Detroit. Symptoms did not appear until after the game. On the other hand, they were troubling enough to place Fleury on the IR in short order. Malcolm Subban is now the starter and has two wins. Go figure! The Vegas starting goaltender will be missed. Given Fleury’s past history, the Golden Knights will want to tread carefully here.
Chris Wassel is on Fantasy Hockey X every week and on various places throughout the internet. Follow him on FanTrax and Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. A special thanks this week to nhl.com, Brian Metzer, Pete Jensen, Eric Stephens, Dan Rosen, and Selene Parekh of The Fantasy Doctors for all their information. Also, thanks to all the beat writers that make this column possible each week.