Injury Ward: Latest injury updates on Price, Carlson, Halak, Reimer, McDavid and others…

Hey everyone! I hope your 2016’s going splendidly so far. Here are some dudes whose 2016 could be better.

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

Connor McDavid – McDavid has resumed taking face-offs and other drills, but he’s still strictly no-contact. He’s thankful that his injury is upper-body, allowing him to keep in shape while it rehabs.

Carey Price – Price still has one week left on his original recovery timetable, out with a lower-body injury. While the news is the injury is “going well”, he still hasn’t resumed skating, so take that with a grain of salt.

John Carlson – The Capitals’ top defenseman has joined the team for their three-game road trip and has already resumed skating and shooting. All signs point to an imminent return.

Jeff Carter – Carter looked like he had a chance to return to the lineup on Monday, but it was not in the cards. He’ll get another shot at it when the Kings play Toronto. He’s got an upper-body injury.

David Krejci – The Bruins’ centerman was placed on injured reserve last week with an upper-body injury. The Bruins’ have been holding their own in his absence, posting 50% CorsiFor, 55.8 Corsi/60, and 2.8 Goals/60, which is more or less in line with what they posted with him in the lineup this year (49.7, 54.8, and 3.0, respectively).

Jaroslav Halak – Halak was activated off the injured reserve yesterday and could be back for Thursday’s game against the Capitals.

Tyler Johnson – Johnson returned for December 28^th’s game against the Habs, but has posted no points and is a minus-one in three games since.

Logan Couture – Couture finally made his return on December 30^th and put up two assists. He’s already ramped up to 18 minutes in his last game, so clearly he has Coach Pete DeBoer’s confidence.

Ryan Miller – The biggest update to Miller’s injury comes as a casual sidenote from Coach Willie Desjardins: He’s day-to-day and skating.

Sergei Bobrovsky – Man just call me Nostradamus. After CBJ activated Bobrovsky off the IR, he immediately re-aggravated his injury like I predicted, forcing him to be placed back on it. He’ll have to stay there until January 6^th, but might be out a little while beyond that as well.

Mike Cammalleri – The Devils’ scoring forward is day-to-day, and “should be fine fairly soon”. Don’t relegate him to the waiver wire just yet.

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

Brendan Gallagher – The Habs’ agitator made it back in time for the Winter Classic and rocked the place, putting up two points in a 5-1 thrashing of the Bruins.

Mark Streit – Streit is back from his lower body injury, but has posted goose eggs all through two games. Zero points, zero PIMs, zero shots.

Alexander Edler – Edler will likely miss a game with the flu. Vancouver’s in the midst of quite a homestand, though, so he could return without much warning.

Mark Scheifele – Scheifele has been activated off the injured reserve, so look for his imminent return.

Ondrej Palat – Palat returned on Saturday to reunite the Triplets line. In his first game back, he posted an assist and three shots. Look for all three of Kucherov, Palat, and Johnson to pick up speed going forward.

Johnny Boychuk – There’s no way the Isles are going to trade Travis Hamonic with Boychuk injured, and that’ll mean they’re stuck with him for at least four-to-six weeks.

Chris Kreider – Kreider was doubtful for Tuesday’s game versus Dallas, and indeed missed it. He has a hand injury, but anyone whose status is “doubtful” may return quite soon, so keep an eye on his status.

Jiri Hudler – Hudler’s got a lower-body injury and missed Tuesday’s game versus Tampa. He had not resumed skating at practice, so don’t expect him back too soon.

Mikko Koivu – Columbus’ David Savard collided with Koivu and sent him into the boards on an ugly play. Koivu was immediately rushed to the hospital, but was released and will fly back with the Team

Erik Johnson – The Avalanche defenseman suffered a lower-body injury on Monday night, where Tyson Barrie put up four points. Head Coach Patrick Roy says he’ll be out in anywhere between five and twelve days.

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

Jaden Schwartz – Here’s your monthly update on the long-term injured Schwartz: GM Doug Armstrong has said that he’ll be reevaluated in three weeks’ time, so check on him then.

Nail Yakupov – Yakupov’s status remains unchanged. The kid’s skating, which is a bigger deal for him than McDavid, seeing as his injury was to the ankle. Mum’s the word on his return date though. I try and keep the world up to date on injuries via my twitter feed, so if he’s unexpectedly back, that’s where you can hear about it.

Nick Bjugstad – The big Panthers center has returned for two games, but has only one shot between them, averaging 12:35 in TOI per game.

Cam Fowler – The Ducks’ defenseman has a schedule for his recovery from a knee injury, and it looks like its 4-6 weeks. He was having a middling season with just 12 points in 34 games. He’s actually been declining in points-per-game for a few years now.

Ondrej Pavelec – Pavelec might return to the Jets sometime in the coming weeks, but Hellebuyck won’t easily hand over the Winnipeg net. The rookie is boasting a .929 save percentage.

Martin Hanzal – Martin Hanzal is still out with a lower-body injury, but Coach Dave Tippett thinks there’s a “good chance” he’ll play Thursday.

Ryan Callahan – Callahan left Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury. Keep an eye on this one, as he has a chance to play on Friday if it turns out to be minor.

Jonathan Drouin – Drouin made a return, but it was short-lived. He only lasted around 11 minutes of icetime, had no points, one shot, and was a miuns-two. He was immediately sent to Syracuse, the AHL affiliate, and (though I’m sure you’ve heard about this) his agent, Allan Walsh, has revealed that he requested a trade on the young winger’s behalf.

Mike Smith – Smith is recovering from surgery. It was needed to correct a torn abdominal muscle and he’s expected to be out until at least mid-February.

James Reimer – Another groin setback here. Groin injuries are one of the most annoying in the business, and Reimer has a talent for aggravating his. He’s back to day-to-day status.

Mika Zibanejad – After receiving a scary high stick near his eye, Zibanejad received stitches for a cut. Look for updates on him from this morning’s practice. There shouldn’t be an issue with him moving forward.

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

Robin Lehner – The Sabres’ goalie is in the AHL right now to get back into game shape. Expect him back in the lineup soon. But… yknow… He’s still playing for Buffalo, so don’t throw a parade or anything.

Reto Berra – Berra is out for a bit longer than the Avalanche had previously expected. He’s got an ankle injury and “isn’t close to returning”.

David Savard – The Blue Jackets’ defenseman returned way ahead of his original prognosis. In two games so far, he has six shots on goal and one assist. He also sent Mikko Koivu to the hospital, which makes total sense.

Brandon Sutter – Sutter is still out after sports hernia surgery, but he’s reportedly close to resuming skating.

Oscar Klefbom – Klefbom is still out. While his fractured knuckle has healed, he suffered a lower-body injury while he was out. He will be out for “some time to come”, whatever that means. I’d consider him week-to-week, but that could quickly change to day-to-day.

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