Welcome back everyone! I feel like this is a season where we've had a few pretty impactful injuries thus far, so I wanted to focus on some that are impacting fantasy lineups. This week we're going to take a visit to the IR here, so bring your balloons and get well soon cards. Before we dive in, I have to quick plug all the folks here who write between Injury Ward and the Ramblings to help give everyone out there what injury news and timelines that we have made available to us. I've used them as a resource plenty in the past!

Auston Matthews – C – Toronto – 27 years old

Contract: $53M – $13.25M AAV – Four years remaining – NMC

What began as a day-to-day injury has no spun off into a cloud of rumors and guessing on just what's going on here with Auston Matthews. Craig Berube has played this injury down which is fine here, until it was reported on Tuesday that Matthews was seeking treatment options in Munich, which I'm not sure about you guys, is not something healthy people do. Look, certain types of therapies just aren't available here. Just ask Christian McCaffery.    

I selected Auston Matthews third overall in my league this year (behind Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid) and was so excited to have him on my roster. In the eight years my league has been together, I have never once been able to roster him and now finally had the opportunity. I'm not saying it's time to completely panic here in fantasy or if you're just a Leafs fan, but sometimes where there's smoke, there's fire. We went from, "he'll be back on Saturday", one full week ago and now we learn that he's not even with the NHL club right now. Elliotte Friedman on the intermission of Hockey Night in Canada was just as palms up as you are I are currently on the matter, but I can't help but think that something is more significant than originally interpreted.

What made me come to that decision is a matter of LTIR use. If the Leafs knew that this was a significant injury, then I would be surprised to come and find that they didn't use that designation, as he would have to miss a minimum of ten games, while we currently sit at seven. Even though the Leafs have won five of six games in Matthew's absence, I'm like many of you out there trying to navigate a glaring hole in my fantasy lineup with #34 sidelined with a UBI.
 
Alex Ovechkin – RW – Washington – 39 years old

Contract: $47.5M – $9.5M AAV – One year remaining – NMC, ten-team modified NTC

This was a bummer. I had to call it an early night on Monday as the Capitals won the second of a road back-to-back in Utah and woke up to the Alex Ovechkin injury news. In 18 games, Ovi has 25 points and has looked great on a fun-to-watch Capitals club. Can't go without saying he's 20 goals away from tying Wayne Gretzky's record. Okay, maybe it's not 20 goals, but it's funny that you ask three different people and get three different answers (the number is 27).

Just looking at the total career picture here, this is a player who has been extremely durable throughout his 20-year journey. It's that thought that has me thinking that he could potentially come back quicker than the "week-to-week", injury designation may suggest. On the other hand, this is a player that was in the 2004 NHL Draft. I think the only other two left now from that class are Evgeni Malkin, and if Blake Wheeler is out there somewhere, he was also that year.

For fantasy, again the only word that I can think of is "bummer", but we at least have some idea of a timetable for a return here. If you're a Caps fan, yeah, I'm upset that the goal record now all of a sudden was possibly feasible this season, to now it hangs in question. Consider this though: Three/four years ago if Ovechkin goes down, it's detrimental to the Capitals season. I think this club can survive here while he's out, and as much as I wish Ovechkin could be out there, the Caps may have enough talent on that roster right now to be able to continue to compete.

Mark Stone – RW – Vegas – 32 years old

Contract: $76M – $9.5M AAV – Two years remaining – NMC

Vegas is another one of the now growing number of clubs to be playing 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Mark Stone sidelined with a lower-body injury. While this might not completely tilt your fantasy club one way or the other, his absence does play a part here in the overall structure of the Golden Knights.

Have Jack Eichel in fantasy? He must play more now with Stone out, as his ice time has bumped up a full minute in the past week. Even the rotating door of Alexander Holtz and Pavel Dorofeyev (two players that I like), moving up to the top line has implications for fantasy and DFS. The timetable here for Stone returning may be coming up soon than we realize as the Knights can take him off IR on either of their back-to-back games here against Toronto or Ottawa.  He's missed a week of action already, but I just find it doubtful that the Knights would activate him here on a road back-to-back but could see this Saturday at Montreal as a possible return. If you're harboring Stone on an IR spot on your roster, I'd begin considering just who you want to move around to get him back in your lineup.

*Salary Cap data from PuckPedia.com  

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