Welcome back in, everyone! It's been tough sledding here for yours truly. I have more players on IR than I have IR spots to put them all and by some miracle am still within striking distance in my matchup. I can't stand injuries, you guys. Let me repeat that: I cannot stand injuries and when players are hurt and unavailable. People in the fantasy group chat have no idea what you're going through when the red text next to players names appears. For that matter, this week will be partially about potentially taking advantage of some injury news out there as well as looking out for players who may be shelved longer than anticipated.

The Immediate Fix (Grab this guy and use him for the next several days)

Jake Allen, G, New Jersey Devils (Rostered in 7% of ESPN leagues, 27% Fantrax, 14% Yahoo) – On Wednesday night, Bruins forward Justin Brazeau crashed into Jacob Markstrom in net, who then needed assistance to be helped off the ice. Needless to say, Markstrom did not return to the game, which is a letdown, but it does open the door here for a lower rostered Jake Allen.  

Initially when I saw the Markstrom injury I thought the worst, but he was reportedly, "feeling better", when reporters asked about his injury on Thursday. As encouraging as that is, if there's no timetable set for his return, then starting goaltender duties in New Jersey fall to Jake Allen. I rostered Allen briefly following the Thanksgiving break as a rental and it wasn't a memorable stint but hey, knew he was going to start so why not? Allen is likely going to be the starter for what I would guess would be at least the next three games or more and if that's the case New Jersey's next three opponents are Montreal, Philadelphia twice, then Buffalo. Nothing on the horizon scares me even with a backup goaltender in the crease so going out and adding Allen is an excellent play in the short term. The only hesitancy I have is if New Jersey IR's Markstrom (likely) and recall Nico Dawes to gives him one of those starts. I love Devils fans and want to say losing Markstrom is tough, but using the IR money to go get J.T. Miller…what, wait who said that?    

The Building Block (Buy now, sit back and enjoy the production)

Kaapo Kakko, RW, Seattle Kraken (Rostered in 10% of ESPN leagues, 46% Fantrax, 18% Yahoo) – Kaapo Kakko's ice time went from around 14 minutes in New York, to 17 minutes in Seattle. Granted, nobody usually plays big minutes in that Seattle forward group, but what I'm getting at is this has given him an excellent opportunity to produce and so far, he has done just that.  

I'm still not sure about Seattle as a playoff team but for fantasy I love what I'm seeing right now from Kakko. He had a three-assist night versus a very good Kings team, and although he didn't get on the score sheet in his last two games, he's been noticeable out there on the ice. I like Kakko a lot here as a Building Block and the schedule would tend to agree. Seattle plays once more this week, but four times next week with only one of those games on the road.

The Odd Man Out (His short-term value is cause for concern)

Ivan Barbashev, LW, Vegas Golden Knights (Rostered in 61% of ESPN leagues, 80% Fantrax, 45% Yahoo) – I drafted Ivan Barbashev with the last pick in our draft and for the first few weeks of the season thought I struck gold. He spent time on each of the top two Vegas lines but then really took off with Jack Eichel as his center. However, following missing time last month he has been off to a slow start coming back and that has me worried.       

In the seven games since returning, Barbashev has just one point (an assist) and that's with skating on the top Vegas line with Eichel and Mark Stone. Even against Chicago last week, he was hardly noticeable out there on the ice while other forwards like Pavel Dorofeyev and Victor Olofsson very much were. The value here is that if Barbashev gets back to where he was at the beginning of the season then you have a close to point-per-game player that can also give you hits and blocks. I'm keeping a close eye on this one, I don't want to say a player is hurt but I do think there's something to be said with a longer timetable for some of these guys to be near full-go coming back from missing time.   

The Anchors (They’ll do nothing but disappoint even over the long haul)

Valeri Nichushkin, RW, Colorado Avalanche (Rostered in 43% of ESPN leagues, 81%, Fantrax, 52% Yahoo) – I wrote here earlier in the season before Valeri Nichushkin returned that he was a Building Block, and I stand by it. There was a portion of last season around where we are now in late January, where Nichushkin was one of the hottest players in the NHL, and if he could get back to even close to that form, then you had something cooking in fantasy. My, how the turn tables.  

Nichushkin suffered a lower-body injury on New Year's Eve and Colorado did what Colorado does, and said the severity of the injury wasn't that bad. He was extremely close to returning to the lineup until yesterday it was reported that he suffered a set-back and is now considered week-to-week. It's not just this injury, it's everything that has come with it with him missing time for one reason or another. I do genuinely hope that any time spent in the player assistance program helped (awesome resource for these guys), but it's difficult in fantasy to depend on a player to be active, especially if you have limited add/drops like my league does. If you have the IR space to keep him on the roster that's fine, but for me I have my mouse right above the drop button. I need to make room in the ICU for Noah Dobson, Josh Norris, Charlie McAvoy…  

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)

This period runs through January 24^th – February 2^nd

Seattle – I mentioned earlier that I love the Kraken schedule upcoming and that holds true here with five games upcoming with only one on the road. I like Seattle here coming up.   

Minnesota – Minnesota is finally getting healthy and that's a scary thought for the rest of the league. Remember, we don't have to go too far back to a point where the Wild had the best record in the league. They're a Love 'Em for me upcoming.

Tampa Bay – I mean, they start their week at home against the Chicago, so that's an automatic Love, right? Can't wait to try and squeeze in Tampa's top line in DFS that day, I'm sure they'll be reasonably priced as they've been for the past month and a half.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed in the short term)

NY Rangers – It's not a tough stretch as far as games played, but by matchups it will be. Next week the Rangers will see Carolina, Boston on the road, then Vegas. Those are three tough games for a club trying to remain in the playoff mix.  

Ottawa – The Senators are only in action twice next week. It seems like each time this club gets on a bit of a roll this season their schedule slows up. I'm not certain this helps them, either.

Toronto – Anyone else roster Auston Matthews out there? Well, we only get him twice on the schedule next week. Toronto's schedule has gotten much lighter since the first two weeks months of the season.

*For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.