Updates on Price, Getzlaf, Drouin, and more…

Follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza for injury updates as soon as they happen (or as soon as I see them which is basically the same thing)!

The Big Guns (>75% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Carey Price – 3.77 GAA, .877%. Guess who owns those numbers. Vesa Toskala? Ha. Nope. I kid because I too have suffered through Carey Price’s struggles this season, both as a Habs fan and fantasy hockey manager. Tuesday provided a flurry of updates on Price’s status, we learned his injury is not related to the one he suffered two seasons ago, it isn’t a lingering injury, and that he will be back on the ice in the next few days. While I personally believe this absence gives him a chance to rebound mentally, there might also be some physical truth to the injury. The Canadiens’ goalie last played against the Minnesota Wild, and it was hard to find a play that might have led to an injury. This leads me to believe this is similar to the Henrik Lundqvist situation, where the team acknowledges their world-class goaltender needs some time away to find his game again, but in this case don’t want the Montreal media to go crazy with such news. Whatever it may be, Carey Price didn’t suddenly forget how to play hockey. He will bounce back, it’s only a matter of when.

Ryan Getzlaf – Tough news for Getzlaf owners as the Ducks’ captain could be out for the next two months as he recovers from surgery. He underwent a procedure to repair a fracture in his cheek bone, and will have to wear a shield when he finally gets back on the ice.

Brad Marchand – Originally, the team had hoped the upper-body injury was nothing too serious, but it will cause him to miss at least the next two games. In Marchand’s absence, Anders Bjork skated alongside David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron, so he might make a good short-term add this week.

Jonathan Drouin – This one just happened so not many details are available, but we do know it was an upper body injury that kept him out of the third period on Tuesday night against Vegas. Drouin was shown icing his hand on the bench during the game, but I’ll wait for the team to give us an update instead of speculating any further. At many points in this young season, Drouin has looked like the Habs’ best player. As Montreal turns their season around, expect Drouin to improve on the 11 points he has totaled in the first 16 games of the campaign. Before Tuesday night, the Canadiens were 6-1-1 when Drouin recorded a point, and 0-7-0 when he didn’t.

Rasmus Ristolainen – “Still day-to-day” with an upper body injury. While five points (all assists) in his first 13 games is slightly underwhelming, he has directed 32 shots at the net and should get back on a 40-point pace when he returns.

Auston Matthews – Missed Tuesday’s practice with soreness. The same soreness almost kept him out of Monday’s game against the Knights, but he played through it. Let’s see how we feels closer to puck drop on Wednesday.

The Second Liners (40%-75% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Ryan Kesler – It’s been a while so I’ll remind you that Kesler had hip surgery on June 8. While a return sometime in late December is still in the cards (maybe even sooner), Kesler’s going to have to work extra hard to get his skating back to the NHL level.

Kyle Palmieri – While he may return to practice soon, expect a better update later in the week. I’ll be sure to retweet when I see it.

Cam Fowler – A return seems just under four weeks away as Fowler continues to make progress off the ice. The team is extremely encouraged by how he is coming along, but won’t put pressure on him to come back any sooner.

Marcus Johansson – Still out with a concussion, it’s really hard to project a return when each concussion is different from the next.

Matt Niskanen – Has been skating and progressed from “week-to-week” to “day-to-day”. Expect John Carlson’s minutes to lower once Niskanen returns to the lineup.

Marc-Andre Fleury – The team wants to make sure Fleury is healthy when he returns to the lineup, so they won’t be rushing him back. As mentioned above, you can’t really predict a return from a concussion.

The Depth Guys (10%-40% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – It seems very likely the San Jose Sharks defenseman returns to the lineup Wednesday night against the Lightning.

Nolan Patrick – Skated before practice on Tuesday, so all we can do for now is continue to consider him day-to-day.

David Krejci – Although he did skate today, coach Bruce Cassidy has made it clear that was just part of the rehab process. Krejci will not play for the rest of the week.

Radko Gudas – Good chance he returns to the lineup on Thursday against the Blackhawks.

The Mr. Irrelevants (<10% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Travis Hamonic – A lower-body injury will keep the Flames’ defenseman out for about a week.