There was a lot of injury news that came throughout Thursday so we're going to take time going through the notable names.

First and foremost, Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang has been out of action because of the stroke he suffered last week. There is very good news on this front:

Kris Letang is on the ice for practice in a normal jersey.

— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) December 8, 2022

I can understand the reaction some may have to the words "suffered a stroke" and "back practicing within two weeks" given how those things usually go. Letang has gone through this before, though, and he and the medical staff would be in sync with each other on what steps he can/cannot take. It is just a very good sight to see him practicing again and hopefully get back in games without limitations. Until that happens, Jeff Petry continues to have good fantasy value, but it appears Letang may be back sooner than a lot of us thought he may be.

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Jonathan Drouin and Mike Hoffman were both at practice for Montreal but in non-contact jerseys:

Jonathan Drouin et Mike Hoffman sont de retour à l'entraînement.
On va voir si Monahan se joindra à eux.

— Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) December 8, 2022

Considering Drouin's history these last few seasons, this is a very good thing for him. Whether he has fantasy value remains uncertain, and I'd lean no, outside of very deep formats, but this is about him getting back to game action more than anything.

As for Hoffman, the seasons for some of the kids in Montreal has overshadowed his goal scoring: five goals in 16 games on the season. That works out in excess of 25 goals in a full 82-game season and doing so playing 14 minutes a night with zero power-play tallies. He had some top PP time before his injury, but Sean Monahan had been there of late. Of course, with Monahan's own injury – he didn't skate in this practice – maybe Hoffman can get that role back. The Habs are off until Saturday, when they host Los Angeles, but then have a four-game week next week, including matchups with Ottawa and Anaheim. Hoffman may be a streamer for that stretch, depending on when he returns and what his role is when he does.

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A bit of bad news on the Sebastian Aho front:

It's a give and take world, right?

As the #Canes get good news on Ondrej Kase and Frederik Andersen, Rod Brind'Amour says that Sebastian Aho, who did not practice today, is dealing with a lower-body injury.

If #20 can't skate tomorrow, he won't play Saturday on Long Island.

— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) December 8, 2022

That the team expects he may be able to practice and play this week is a good sign. Even if he doesn't, it seems this will be a short-term problem more than anything. Carolina also has four games next week so a game off this weekend to get Aho back near 100% may not be the worst thing for his fantasy owners in the long term.

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We got a quick update on Pavel Buchnevich:

Buchnevich isn't ready to go, Berube told me he's day to day at this point. Krug needs some practices to be sure of his status; Berube said he could play. #stlblues

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) December 8, 2022

He missed St. Louis's last game with an injury and did not play on Thursday night. Buchnevich has been plagued by injury this year, even if it is minor, as he's played just 20 of 27 games on the season. Being on pace to play around 60 games is bad news for the Blues' playoff hopes and Buchnevich's fantasy owners. He had been on a hot streak of late with 14 points in 10 games, averaging 2.6 shots per game. Hopefully this is not something that lingers right to April.  

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The Coloraado Avalanche provided an update on some of their injured guys:

Artturi Lehkonen, Evan Rodrigues and Darren Helm are on the ice ahead of practice in red non-contact jerseys.

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) December 8, 2022

Valeri Nichushkin was also on the ice at practice and was wearing a normal white jersey. He has been out of the lineup since the week before Halloween and had 12 points in seven games before his surgery. If he can return anytime soon, it would be a huge boost to the Avs lineup, even if some of the big forward stars are still missing.

Gabriel Landeskog also skated and did some light work but he's clearly a lot further away than any of the players listed above.

As we sit here on Thursday night, Colorado is two points out of a Wild Card spot in the West. However, they have played two and three fewer games, respectively, than the two teams directly ahead of them. The Avalanche have eight games before the brief Christmas break and only one of them is against a team currently in a playoff position (the Islanders). Their first five games after Christmas are against Arizona, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vegas, and Vancouver. In all, of their 13 games over the next four weeks, only four are against current playoff teams, and two of those playoff teams are the Islanders and Kings. It really isn't a tough stretch of schedule, and it seems plausible that they have a mostly full roster by the end of that stretch of games. If the patchwork lineup can keep it together over the next dozen-ish games, maybe winning four or five of them and stay in the playoff hunt, Colorado could be in a very good position to make a push in the second half of the season.

They need to get, and stay, healthy first, of course.

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Some news on Mark Stone:

Mark Stone is not out here for practice today. Not much of a surprise, considering the beating he took last night.

Will ask Bruce Cassidy for an update after.

— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) December 8, 2022

The team said after they practice that it was just a maintenance day, and that Stone is expected to play Friday night when the team hosts Philadelphia. What I will say is that we've already seen maintenance days turned into games missed and reiterate that coaches have no incentive to be truthful when it comes to injuries. This is hopefully truly a maintenance day for Stone but considering his injury history, as recently as a couple months ago, it's always concerning to hear he's "expected to play".

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To get away from the injury news for a second, the Calgary Flames finally called up forward Matthew Phillips:

#Flames General Manager Brad Treliving has announced the recall of forward Matthew Phillips from the @AHLWranglers.

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) December 8, 2022

Phillips is leading the AHL in goals (15 in fewer games played than the guy he's tied with) and points (30). It seemed weird to me to leave a 24-year-old averaging 1.5 points per game in the AHL with a Cup-hopeful team struggling to score, but it seems the Flames are ready to give him some run in the NHL.

There are concerns here, of course. It is unlikely that he earns much ice time as Adam Ruzicka, also called up earlier this year, has 15 points in 16 games but is averaging roughly 14 minutes a game over his last five contests. If being nearly a point-per-game player results in 14 minutes a game, what can we expect from Phillips? It's hard to imagine much unless he really blows the doors off when he shows up.

Regardless, it's nice to see him finally get a shot with the big club and I hope he sticks the landing. The Flames need some more offensive punch and maybe Phillips is the guy to finally turn the tide.

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Toronto ran Los Angeles out of the rink on Thursday night, taking a 5-0 shutout win in a game where they outshot the Kings 41-29, and that felt generous. Mitch Marner scored to extend his unbelievable point streak to 21 games, while Auston Matthews also tallied on six shots while adding a couple of blocks. William Nylander had a goal and an assist on four total shots in a very good fantasy night of his own.

Ilya Samsonov recorded the shutout.

Pierre Engvall may hear from the league on what was effectively a slash to the back of the head of Sean Durzi. Envgall got a 5-minute major for his troubles while Durzi managed to finish the game.

Nick Robertson suffered an injury and the coach said after the game he will be out for a while.

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Tampa Bay rolled new line combinations to a rousing success as they skated out of the rink with a 5-2 victory over Nashville. The Predators were playing their first game in a week but didn't look half-bad in the minutes I watched. Brayden Point scored twice on three shots, though neither on the power play. He now has 13 goals in 26 games, pacing for 40 on the season as he maintains his three-shots-per-game pace.

Steven Stamkos had a pair of assists to extend his point streak to 12 games. He has seven goals and 12 assists in that stretch even if he's not shooting as much as he was earlier in the year.

Brian Elliott was in net for this one, stopping 33 of 35 for the Lightning.

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