Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Welcome to the Injury Ward. My name is Logan Clarkson and every Wednesday I will be chauffeuring you through injury news and updates from around the NHL. I'll do my best to offer useful analysis and opinion as it relates to fantasy throughout. As always I’d like to thank every single one of you for reading. Now, on to the bad (and some good) news.

Alex Ovechkin / WSH – With this, I'm starting my tenure with Dobber Hockey on a very sour note. Ovechkin took a knock to the side of his leg Monday night against Utah on a nothing play. He went down in a heap and you just know that something is wrong when you see the Russian man mountain himself wincing while laying on the ice. Ovechkin has surpassed every single expectation set for him this year. Most wrote him off, including myself. The people have never collectively been more wrong. Alex was torching the league before this injury so much so that he has tickled the twine at the fastest rate in his career through 18 games with 15 goals. He previously hit 14 in 18 three times. Not to mention he has a chance to pass Gretzky for the all time goals record this season, but he also now has a chance to do it in less games played. Just unbelievable. He has been given a week-to-week tag for the time being.

J.T. Miller / VAN – Some interesting news from the Canucks twitter account stating that J.T. will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. The team did not elaborate any further and I’ll avoid speculation but Rick Dhaliwal posted this quote on twitter: 

"Hearing JT Miller leave is about a player who needs a re-set. Needs time and space." 

Miller has been struggling to keep up his pace from last year in most fantasy categories. He's still over a point-per-game guy even though his shots have dipped by roughly half of a shot per game from the pace he sustained the last two seasons. Hopefully he can take care of whatever is up and come back strong. 

Brock Boeser / VAN – Boeser skated for the first time since injury per Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet on Tuesday. A concrete return date has yet to be set. 

Hampus Lindholm / BOS – Lindholm took a shot from Justin Faulk while hanging around in the slot in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over St. Louis. Now ex-Head coach Jim Montgomery recently said that Lindholm is still expected to be out multiple weeks. 

Darnell Nurse / EDM – Nurse took an exorcism like hit as he came around the net with his head down from noted gentle soul, Ryan Reaves, in their Saturday matchup. By exorcism type hit, I mean that the main point of contact was Nurse's head and it was facing backwards in the freeze frames. As someone that has had head injuries, unless you really enjoy living in the dark, there are zero positives. Nurse will be out five-to-ten days according to head coach Kris Knoblauch, and hopefully that rings true as it looked far worse. As for Reaves, he received a five game suspension for the hit, but unfortunately that may make the Leafs a better team for two weeks.

Zach Hyman / EDM – Hyman left what was his 600th game played in the NHL. He has also officially played more games with Edmonton than he has with Toronto. Unfortunately, it didn't have much of a story book ending as he exited the game and did not return for the third period. His play has been lackluster this year putting up just three goals and eight points in 20 games so far. It wouldn't be too bad for totals if he wasn't riding shotgun next to Mcdavid at even strength and on the power play. Vasily Podkolzin took over on a line with Draisaitl and Mcdavid together but Podkolzin has already spent a lot of time with Draisaitl this year and although his metrics are good he has not been putting up the points. I don’t think they will start to come now. Hyman may be an even better buy-low candidate now for when he returns from injury barring its not an extended absence.

Tage Thompson / BUF – Thompson has started this season the way that everyone thought he would begin last year. That's why all you owners will be happy to know he is a possibility to re-enter the lineup today. When he does he will return to top line and top power play minutes. Prior to being injured Tage fired off 11 goals in 16 games including scoring in all four of his last games played. A welcome return.

Alex Tuch / BUF – Tuch returned to full participation in practice Tuesday and looks in line to return to the game day lineup today. Keep an eye out until it is announced officially but it seems to be happening.

Alexander Georgiev / COL – Just as fantasy managers were maybe starting to feel a little bit better about taking Georgiev as a top-five goalie in drafts, he's been placed on IR by Colorado. There's not a ton of information available on the severity of his injury but for what it's worth he is eligible to return to the lineup today having elapsed seven days on the IR, and he was initially pegged as day-to-day.

Gabriel Landeskog / COL – Don't get excited seeing this name on the list. The most recent update from head coach Jared Bednar still has Landeskog without a timetable for his return.

Mike Reilly / NYI – This is a crazy one. Islanders defenseman Reilly suffered a concussion when he was rendered unconscious by Jordan Greenway of the Sabres on Nov 1. In the ensuing treatment it was discovered by doctors that his heart had a birth defect that could have caused life altering consequences at any moment. Mike has since had corrective surgery and it has been said that he will make a full recovery and will be able to continue his career in hockey. A great ending to an unfortunate injury if I’ve ever seen one.

Auston Matthews / TOR – Matthews has been classified as day-to-day with an undisclosed upper body injury. With that said, Auston has since taken it upon himself to travel to a specialist in… Germany. That certainly doesn’t sound like something you do for a day-to-day injury but what do I know. It's been reported that he is on schedule to return Sunday against Utah or the following Wednesday against Florida. Color me skeptical but I've certainly been wrong before. Mitch Marner and John Tavares continue to buzz through teams in his absence.

Seth Jarvis / CAR – Head coach Rod Brind'Amour has stated that it is highly unlikely Jarvis is ready to play tonight against Philadelphia. Jarvis skated Tuesday in a non-contact jersey with his squad. Brind'Amour also stated that he is unsure if Jarvis will travel with the team on their three game road trip ending in Columbus on saturday. 

Frederik Andersen  / CAR – Brind'Amour originally gave us a week-to-week evaluation of Andersen's injury but as of Friday has since changed that to have him out indefinitely. Another big setback for Andersen after missing significant time last season with a blood clot issue. Look for Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin to have a 60-40 split dependent on performance.

Timo Meier / NJD – Meier is day-to-day according to head coach Sheldon Keefe and will be re-evaluated today to see how he is feeling amidst back spasms.

Mats Zuccarello / MIN – Zucc left Minnesota's three-nil win against Montreal with a lower body injury. Unluckily for Zuccarello the injury required surgery and he is looking at an expected recovery time of three-to-four weeks beginning on Nov 15th.

Samuel Ersson / PHI – Ersson was sidelined with a lower body injury and was placed on the IR on sunday. He has been labeled as day-to-day today. Look for Ivan Fedotov to get the bulk of starts. Fedotov may well be settling into the North American game as he has wins in his last three starts including two gems with a .957, and .920.

Emil Andrae / PHI – Sidelined with an undisclosed injury, Andrae has been labeled as day-to-day and will not play this evening. He has, however, been spotted on the ice for the optional morning skate.

Mark Stone / VGK – Stone was labeled as day-to-day on Nov. 5th. He has since been placed on the IR as of yesterday. He is eligible to return at any point but chances are he's at least going to miss today's clash against Toronto. Nicolas Roy continues to be effective on what I’ll call the top line right now, seeing two and a half minutes more over the last three games than Eichel's line. But that’s not what’s impressive, the line of Hertl, Kolesar, and Roy have had 26 shots for and 10 against in that same span for a 72% shot share. Comparing that with the Eichel line at 45% and it's easy to see who's been faring better. Hertl has been a great value pick in most leagues this year.

Vitek Vanecek / SJS – Vanecek is day-to-day and in the meantime San Jose has called up the most prolific bench presser in the league in Yaroslav Askarov. Askarov has put up some pretty good numbers in the AHL this year as was expected of him. Expect him to get a start if Vanecek can't return in time this week in their back-to-back either today or tomorrow vs Dallas or St. Louis respectively.

Filip Chytil / NYR – Chytil is returning to the team on their road trip as he tested negative for a concussion. Great news for him.

Jordan Eberle / SEA – Eberle was receiving further testing Tuesday to determine the extent of his injuries.

Brayden Point / TBL – Point returned from injury Tuesday night and began where he left off with two goals and the game winner in overtime.

Vince Dunn / SEA – An update on Dunn has reported him to still be two weeks out from a return. However, there are some positive signs as Vince has recently skated multiple days in a row. There is some question of whether he will be able to supplant Brandon Montour on the top power play when he returns. He will still be a fairly decent fantasy asset regardless but obviously the ceiling for him gets a bit lower sans consistent and plentiful power play time.

Victor Olofsson / VGK – Olofsson has been sent to the AHL for a conditioning stint. Keep an eye out for his imminent return.

Kris Letang / PIT – Letang was out with an illness but skated yesterday and is still a possibility to play tonight.

Seth Jones / CHI – There has been an update on Jones' foot injury but still no real timeline. He will not be ready when he is first eligible this Saturday. Back to top power play and top pairing minutes when he does return.

Mitch Dunning / REFEREE – Not often I will update on someone with literally zero fantasy relevance but this guy took a really heavy thud from behind courtesy of a player in the Flyers vs Avalanche game and took a precautionary trip to the hospital on a stretcher. It seems he will be just fine. Phew. 

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Thanks again for reading, and you can find me here on Twitter/X [@LOGoalz] for an questions, concerns, or abuse you may want to shower me with. Have a great week people.