With the NHL officially announcing the start of hockey on Jan. 13, many fantasy general managers are scrambling to play catch up with hockey news they may have missed over the last few months.

With so much going on in the world, it's easy to understand why many fantasy GMs may have taken the last little while away from the news. I emailed a manager in a keeper league on Sunday night (our keepers are due Dec. 31), and he told me he hasn't even looked at his roster for a while and didn't know who his keepers were. I've heard of numerous leagues where commissioners are still determining if they're even going to have a fantasy season because of a potential lack of interest.

For those of you forging ahead, you have less than a month to catch up on your fantasy news. One of the first things is to figure out who will miss the start of the season due to injury. Below are 10 players who are injured and for many, it could be a while before they can help your fantasy squad.

For more news on long-term injuries and their impacts, remember to purchase Dobber's Fantasy Guide, which is constantly updated as news becomes available.

10. Anders Nilsson

Nilsson missed the last 36 games of last year with a concussion and doesn't look like he'll be ready for the start of training camp. Nilsson would have been the perfect handcuff netminder for this season. After all, the top guy in Ottawa is now Matt Murray, who is easily the league's number on Band-Aid goalie. Nilsson has been dealing with these symptoms for a full calendar year (he was injured last December) and, unlike shoulder or ankle injuries, there's never a timeline of how long a player will miss games.

9. Alex Stalock

This one is pretty recent, so many fantasy general managers may know about his injury, but it's worth mentioning. After the Wild traded Devan Dubnyk to the Sharks, Stalock had an opportunity to start a higher percentage of games than ever before. It's not as if Cam Talbot had a stranglehold on the number one spot (in the last three years, Talbot has a 63-63-9 record with a 2.98 GAA and a .908 SV%). However, an upper-body injury is keeping Stalock off the ice. Kaapo Kahkonen should benefit the most, as he will be the regular backup instead of playing games in the AHL. However, there's no news on many weeks or months Stalock may miss, so it's tough to know the full impact.

8. Mats Zuccarello

One of the issues for a few of these injured players is that there is no timeline on when players could be back in the lineup. We just mentioned it with Stalock, and it's the same for Zuccarello. It makes it tougher for fantasy general managers to plan for the season. Zuccarello had surgery on his right arm in November to fix a torn ligament. It was the same arm he broke with the Stars a couple of years ago but it was bothering him last season. Reports have him missing training camp at a minimum, but it sounds like he could potentially be out for quite a while. 

7. Gustav Nyquist

Nyquist had surgery in early November to fix his left shoulder and was expected to be out for five-to-six months from that date. That puts his first potential game at the start of April at the absolute earliest. With a condensed schedule, that would be most of the regular season. If he comes back in early May, that's probably the start of the NHL playoffs. He's definitely a do-not-draft.

6. Oscar Klefbom

How bad has Klefbom's shoulder been? There's a realistic chance that he won't suit up for a single game this upcoming season, which is why the team signed Tyson Barrie to a one-year deal. Klefbom has dealt with shoulder injuries for years, and despite being only 27-years-old (young by NHL standards), rumours say he is considering retirement. I own him in one keeper league that doesn't use IR, so I'll have to drop him. In another keeper league, the Klefbom owner asked if I was interested in acquiring the Oilers defenseman. However, I said I wouldn't give him anything more than a last-round pick as there's too much uncertainty in his future. 

5. Henrik Lundqvist

This is the one that everyone should know as the news just broke in the past week. After signing a one-year deal with Washington, many fantasy GMs were hopeful Lundqvist would start at least 40 per cent of the games or possibly take over the starter's role if Ilya Samsonov struggled. Now that Lundqvist is out for the regular season with a heart condition, Samsonov's workload should increase, and he's less likely to lose the top role.

4. Ben Bishop

Bishop has been great the last few years for fantasy owners, but he can't stay healthy. This year is much of the same. Bishop had knee surgery in May, played three postseason games, but needed more surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Oct. 21. H was expected to miss five months from that date. That puts him back in the league in late March. This means Anton Khudobin will be the number one guy in Dallas and should be moved up your draft list, which many people are neglecting to do. In Yahoo drafts, for example, Bishop is being drafted just behind Khudobin and ahead of Braden Holtby, Juuse Saros and both Columbus Blue Jackets netminders.

3. Vladimir Tarasenko

Tarasenko played just 10 games last season before he went out with a shoulder injury and need surgery last October. He then had another shoulder surgery in September. He is scheduled to be re-evaluated in February. That means he is missing at least three weeks, probably longer. Tank is pretty consistent when it comes to production (about 0.9 points per game in six of the last seven seasons), so he might be worth a later draft pick if you're confident you can get 40 games out of him.

2. David Pastrnak

While it appears that Brad Marchand will be ready (or close to it) at the start of the season, the news isn't as rosy for Pasta. Pastrnak had hip surgery this offseason and isn't due back until mid-February. Pastrnak is one of the best goal-scorers in the league, but he may be one of the players who suffer most from the division realignment. After all, he's going to miss having the Montreal Canadiens to kick around after he scored eight goals in four games against the Habs last season.

1. Tyler Seguin

Seguin had a disappointing regular season and postseason, so many may have been hoping for a big bounce-back season. However, it's going to take a while before that bounce-back season can begin. Seguin had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip in early November and it was estimated that it would take five months to recover. That puts him until April before he can get back into an NHL game. He's going to be mostly useless in keeper leagues. In one-year leagues, he could be worth a late-round flier that you immediately stash on the IR and then hope he can be back to his old self in time for fantasy playoffs.