Good morning, good afternoon, good evening 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.

Kevin Lankinen / VAN – Did not suit up for Vancouver's 3-2 loss against Buffalo yesterday. It was reportedly due to an illness and not an injury. Lankinen is the owner of a .902 and a 16-8-6 record in 29 games started. Still up in the air whether or not Demko can handle the load of a 1A so I would continue holding on to Lankinen for the time being if you're not in dire need of volume.

Noah Dobson / NYI – Dobson (lower body) does not have a time table to return after looking like he injured his left leg at the end of Monday night's game. Dobson struggled early on in the season if you want to compare it to what he did last year. He has 24 points in 46 games this season which is quite far off from his previous 70 in 79 in 23-24'.

Tyler Toffoli / SJS – Tyler Toffoli (lower body) did not play in last night's come from behind loss against Nashville. Toffoli just fired up again with four points in the two games before injury, bringing him to six points in his last 12 games. He should return to his 16-ish minutes a night.

Josh Norris / OTT – Norris (undisclosed) left last night's game with an injury and did not return. Norris has six points in his last 12 games and has been seeing around 18:45 of ice time a night.

Mike Reilly / NYI – Great news coming out for the Islanders defenseman Mike Reilly yesterday. You may remember earlier in the season when he got an unwelcome surprise during a check-up from team doctors who found a heart defect after he was diagnosed with a concussion. Reilly has since had surgery and is recovered enough to be back on the ice. Congrats Mike. Reilly is hopeful to be back in the lineup by the end of the year.

Valeri Nichushkin / COL – Nichushkin (lower body) is heading back to being considered week-to-week after suffering a setback the other day. Sucks deeply for anyone who held him all year on IR. When he's back he should see the top two lines and will most likely end up back on power play one as well. Nuke was averaging 19:37 ice time and has managed 17 points in 21 games inbetween injury.

Mason Marchment / DAL – Marchment (face) has been practicing with the team but is said to not be very close to a return. Don't blame the guy, facial surgery is not fun. Marchment's injury has been extremely unfortunate considering he had a monster start to the year chipping in with 27 points in 31 games. His shooting percentage is 15 percent so it’s high, but keep in mind he’s maintained a 14.7 percent or higher in three of his four seasons in the NHL now.

John Tavares / TOR – Tavares (lower body) has not returned to the ice and has no timeline. That's the update from the Leafs folks, which will probably not get clarified too much before he pops back up in warm ups one day. Is it just me or are there more last-minute returns and exits from the lineup this season? Tavares has been running amok on the league this year even though he’s been shooting less, he is scoring more. Regression? Most likely.

Mikhail Sergachev / UTA – Sergachev (upper body) has 30 points in 44 games while manning top powerplay and around 25 minutes a night for Utah. He has been out of the lineup since Monday with no updates.

Drew Doughty / LAK – Doughty (ankle) is expected to begin practicing with the team this week with no contact. Even better time to stash than last week if you need a defenseman badly!

Semyon Varlamov / NYI – Varlamov (lower body) has resumed skating as of January 2nd but is still on LTIR, and is eligible to return on the 25th.

Ondrej Palat / NJD – Palat (illness) will be left out of the lineup today against Boston. Lots of really rough sickness travelling through pro sports leagues right now, including the NHL. Palat has seen a bit of a decrease in ice time this year but is still keeping up right around his career averages in points. He was most recently lining up on the second power play and alongside Jack Hughes and Nathan Bastian on line.. one?

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 week people!