Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and a happy new year to everyone. 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.

Alexander Ovechkin / WSH – No bad news here, only good stuff. The Russian man mountain is back and has two goals in three games so far. Set your clocks and let’s watch some history be made, empty net goals or not!

Valeri Nichushkin / COL – There were no new updates after last night's game but Nichushkin left the game not to return. Jared Bednar threw some water on the flames after the game last night specifying that Nichushkin was still being evaluated so check for an update at or after morning skate today. Nichushkin has been seeing great ice time this year and a bit of a bump in offensive zone starts. He has also been missing the net a bit more often than his career numbers suggest he should be.

Shayne Gostisbehere / CAR – Gostisbehere was left off last night's roster against the Blue Jacket and it was not good news to follow. Shane will be out for an extended period due to an upper-body-injury. Ty Smith has been used on the power play since Gostisbehere's injury. He had a goal last night on the man advantage but my bet would be that Brent Burns ends up taking over eventually. Gostisbehere has had 18 power play points for a while now and was rocking a 96 PDO with crazy possession metrics before he went down. This guy is truly a power play specialist and it's pretty fun to watch him work.

Mason Marchment / DAL – Mason Marchment has been key to the Dallas Stars offense this season. He led the Stars in points until taking a puck to the face on the 27th for the second time this season which resulted in leaving the ice bloodied to not return. Facial injuries typically don’t keep NHLers off the ice for long. Marchment has been enjoying his most successful season since his last year in Florida in 21'-22' where he potted 40 points in 54 games. 

Drew Doughty / LAK – Doughty broke his ankle in the fall and had surgery to repair it. Drew has been skating as of yesterday. The Kings are hopeful that Doughty will be able to return in January, but it will most likely be nearer to the end of the month. There are some questions around his fantasy value when he does return due to rookie Brandt Clarke running the powerplay in his absence. Clarke has done an okay job in his stead but is also one of the only options for the Kings not requiring waivers this year.

Kirill Kaprizov / MIN – Kaprizov, of the Minnesota Wild, has missed three games now due to a lower body injury sustained during a game against the Edmonton Oilers. Listed as day-to-day, Kaprizov has had a rocket start to the season ranking second in the NHL with 23 goals and is fourth in total points with 50. He is also leading the league with six multi-goal games this season. The Wild are looking to bounce back after the holiday season following a small slump. The team had an impressive run before the break, with a record of 16-4-4 over the previous two months and currently leads the league with 27 road points, sporting a record of 12-3-3 on the road.

Igor Shesterkin / NYR – Shesterkin has gone down with the ship. He has been placed on IR for an upper-body-injury with no real timeline. This comes as the Rangers are experiencing one of the worst seasons they have had to endure in a while. This team is an absolute tire fire right now. Igor has also been posting some of his worst career numbers so hopefully he comes back rested with a fire extinguisher in his hands. With a record of 11-15-1 there is plenty of room for improvement going forward from the reigning Vezina and Presidents' trophy winner as New York looks up at the Metro division from last place.

Linus Ullmark / OTT – Ullmark left the game in the first period on December 23rd from back tightness and is still on the sidelines. No real reports on when he will be back but he was surging ahead in his last 10 games or so after having a very blah start to the year. He had won six of his last seven starts with the lone loss coming in overtime. Linus' lowest single game save percentage in that stretch was a .912.

Fabian Zetterlund / SJS – Zetterlund missed last night's 4-0 loss against Philadelphia and is day-to-day. Zetterlund has been a valuable bottom roster player for fantasy teams that need consistent cats that include hits. He was also seeing a bump in 5-on-5 playing time before his injury due to William Eklund being out for the last week or so. Zetterlund is also day-to-day for now. 

Jake Walman / SJS – Walman was listed as day-to-day on December 23rd. He has still yet to return and boy do the Sharks miss him at all strengths. Walman has been a pretty good grab off the waiver or late in drafts picking up tons of minutes at even strength and the powerplay. Top defenseman are seemingly becoming fewer and farther between every year.

Joey Daccord / SEA – Daccord was injured in practice the day before a game against Colorado on the 22nd. He finished that game but re-aggravated that injury and has yet to see any more action. Daccord had a strong start to the season but slowed down a bit alongside the team before injury. Daccord was ruled out of Seattle's next game, he will sit on the shelf for a bit longer with his 12-9-1 record and .912 save percentage.

Clayton Keller / UTA – Utah has now lost five straight and Keller was a late scratch against Edmonton last night to help keep it rolling downhill. Clayton has led the newly minted Utah Hockey Club all year in points and sits at 37 currently four ahead of rookies Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley. This injury hurts nearly everyone on their roster outside of Barret Hayton who filled in for Keller on the first power play last night.

Elias Pettersson / VAN – Pettersson will not travel with the team for their upcoming two game road trip. The Canucks return home to a four-day break before taking on Florida on the 8th, so don't expect Elias back before then and possibly longer. Hopefully the extra days off means he is good to go against the Panthers. Pettersson has been streaky this year and you can attribute as much of that as you want to interpersonal issues within the Canucks but the fact of the matter is Pettersson's rate stats are down across the board. His biggest issues lie in his 5-on-5 play where his shots per 60 is at a career low, matching many others. His issues do carry over to the power play but are not as pronounced there and he is only down roughly 30 seconds of ice time from last year.

Quinn Hughes / VAN – Hughes is week-to-week and will not be travelling with the team to Seattle for their clash tomorrow. Hughes has seen a significant jump in his shots per 60 from 9.0 almost every year of his career to 14.1! That makes me want to swear a bunch when describing it but I’ll keep it PG since I'd like to continue speaking to you all. Shooting rates were one of the last pieces of the puzzle in fantasy dominance for the oldest of the Hughes brothers and my god is he ripping the biscuit a lot this year compared to others. Add on the league-wide shift away from point shots and colour me confused my friends. Insane stuff from Quinn, wishing him a speedy recovery.

Thanks again for reading, and please give me a follow, you can find me here on Twitter/X @LOGoalz for any questions, concerns, or abuse you may want to shower me with. Have a great YEAR people, we're all gonna crush it!