Injury updates on Crosby, Letang, Foligno, Hossa, Berra, Pastrnak, Ryan, Miller and more…

Happy holidays! As the NHL breaks for a few days for Christmas, let’s take a look at who’ll need that time tend to their wounds.

The Big Guns (>80% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Sidney Crosby – 87 missed Monday’s game versus Columbus with a lower-body injury and is now day-to-day. He was listed as questionable before that game, so the injury does not look serious. To tell you the truth, I was glad to see him miss it. With Dubinsky running around like Jack Nicholson in The Shining and the other Pens letting their captain get manhandled, I’m happy that he was able to avoid a reckless team like the Blue Jackets. Hopefully the break will help get him the time he needs to get back to disappointing his owners.

Kris Letang – Though he should be returning before too long, Letang’s been out with a lower-body injury since December 9^th, and it looks like the Pens need him. They have just one win in the six games he’s missed. He’s skated in a yellow non-contact jersey, so label him day-to-day moving forward.

Connor McDavid – McDavid news this week! The 2015 first overall pick has resumed skating, but that’s only slightly relevant to his recovery from a collarbone injury. I haven’t seen anything about him shooting or puck-handling, so that’ll be the next milestone to look out for. Neither he nor the Oilers are in any rush to bring him back early and risk a Tony Romo situation, so consider him month-to-month, if that’s a thing.

Carey Price – Price still has three weeks left on his original recovery timetable. With no word on any updates over the past week, that’s the one to look to for a return date. He’s out with a lower-body injury.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Flower has a suspected concussion. He was scheduled to return sometime soon, but concussions are a tricky injury, so look at him as week-to-week rather than day-to-day. The Christmas break will surely help, though.

Devan Dubnyk – Dubnyk returned to action and delivered 21 saves to help the Wild reach a 5-2 victory on the 17th.

Tyler Johnson – Johnson was expected back in the Lightning lineup before Palat, but they’re both going to sit out until after the break at the very least.

Logan Couture – Couture was scheduled to miss the Sharks’ road trip and that’s done with now. Head Coach Pete DeBoer said he’ll be re-evaluated during the break and we’ll have a more concrete idea about his status afterwards.

Bobby Ryan – The Sens’ forward was missed on Tuesday’s game as he re-aggravated a hand injury. He’s day-to-day.

Ryan Miller – The Canucks’ goalie missed Tuesday’s game after suffering an attack of cramps the previous game. He’s day-to-day as well.

Sergei Bobrovsky – The top cop shows why he’s number one again: he’s ahead of schedule, taking shots in practice. He’ll likely return after the break.

The Second Liners (50%-80% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Brendan Gallagher – Gallagher is traveling with the team on their road trip and is still eyeing a return for the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

Mark Streit – Streit is likely to return to the active lineup on December 27^th. However, with Shayne Gostisbehere playing as well as he is (the kid has 14 points in 18 games!), it’s unlikely in my estimation that Streit will have a guaranteed spot on the Flyers’ PP1 unit.

Nick Foligno – The Blue Jackets were ALSO missing their captain on Monday in the Jackets/Pens matchup. Head Coach John Tortorella said he was “nicked up”. I don’t know what that means, but at the very least it’s punny.

Marian Hossa – Hossa’s dealing with an upper-body injury and should be back after the break.

Ondrej Palat – Palat is out until after the break, but even though he’s skating, there’s still no timetable for his return.

The Depth Guys (20%-50% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

James Reimer – The Leafs’ goalie would be a Vezina threat if he could stay hot and healthy this season. Unfortunately, that’ll be the case with him every year as he’s nursing a chronic groin injury. He’s likely to return in the two games following the break.

Derek Stepan – Stepan returned to the Rangers’ lineup a bit earlier than expected. He had a negligible statline, posting only a single shot in 21 minutes of ice time.

Nail Yakupov – Nail Yakupov has resumed skating alongside McDavid, but ankle injuries can take a while to heal fully. While I suspect he’ll be back in the first week of January, that’s just a gut feeling.

Nick Bjugstad – Bjugstad resumed skating and will make a return soon. He’s been out with “migraines” from a concussion that no one will admit he has.

Tyler Ennis – The Sabres forward returned to Buffalo on the 19^th and put up a whole two shots over 15 minutes. He usually sees closer to the 18-minute mark, but I’m sure once Head Coach Dan Bylsma’s confidence grows, he’ll see more time.

Jeff Petry – Jamie Benn used some body language to tell Petry he needs to sit out a few games, and that’s what he did. He was practicing though, so expect him back before long. He’s got an upper-body injury.

Joel Ward – Ward was boarded and came away with an upper-body injury. He’s “optimistic” that he’ll be back for December 28^th.

Martin Hanzal – While Hanzal returned on Saturday, he might have re-aggravated an injury, as he missed Tuesday’s game. Look for him to try again once teams resume play.

Jonathan Drouin – Drouin has returned to taking contact from teammates at practice, so I expect him to be ready to play by the weekend.

Mike Smith – Smith had surgery to correct a torn abdominal muscle last week. His prognosis was 8-10 weeks of downtime, and we’re only a week into that.

The Mr. Irrelevants (<20% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

David Pastrnak – Pasta returned, but not to the NHL. He’s spending time in the minors to rehab the injury and get back to NHL form. The Czech team could use him during the World Juniors, so watch out for news that suggests whether the Bruins will let him go or not. If he does, he’ll be out a while. If not, he might play on Saturday.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Vlasic was questionable for Tuesday’s game, but managed to squeeze out 26 minutes. Looks like he’s ok.

Reto Berra – The Avalanche were unable to save Semyon Varlamov from Toronto’s shellacking because Berra had injured his ankle playing soccer just before the game. He’s getting an MRI done to evaluate his recovery.

Dan Girardi – Girardi’s had some swelling in his knee and was listed as day-to-day since last week. He’s resumed off-ice workouts, but his status remains unchanged.

Travis Zajac – The Devils’ center retuned versus the Ducks on Saturday, and “felt good” doing it.

Kevin Klein – The New York Rangers’ defenseman has a strained oblique, but is almost healthy again. He could really use this break to get back to game-shape.

Colin Wilson – Wilson returned for December 17^th’s game against the Blues. He has played three games since and recently had a three-point night.

David Savard – The Blue Jackets have said that their minute-munching blueliner will miss up to four weeks with an ankle injury.

Brandon Sutter – Sutter is still out after sports hernia surgery. The original timetable has him out another 1-3 weeks. He had some company in the infirmary as Henrik Sedin briefly went down with a lower-body injury recently.

Oscar Klefbom – Klefbom is still out, nursing a fractured knuckle bone. He’s week-to-week.

As always, thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter for injury updates and general hockey-related tomfoolery! @AjayDaCosta, in case that address bar is too far away.