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.

Drew Doughty / LAK – Doughty (lower body) is expected to return to the lineup tonight! Adjust accordingly. I'll be keeping him on IR for a game or two to see how ice time shakes out.

Kirill Kaprizov / MIN – Kaprizov (lower body) has had surgery to fix something that has been ailing him for the majority of the season. Kirill was given a timeline of four or more weeks to recover. The injury hurts the value of pretty well every player on Minnesota outside of Marco Rossi who will retain power play one and top-six duties.

Jacob Markstrom / NJD – Markstrom (lower body) is now ruled out for four-to-six weeks following an MCL strain he picked up last week. Markstrom has been a great fantasy asset this year piling up wins behind the Devil’s coming out party. Having a healthy Jack Hughes has helped boost them to nearing their full potential as they sit seventh in the league in the overall standings. Look for Nico Daws to get a healthy amount of starts if the Devils are at all keen to find out what they have in him at the NHL level since Jake Allen is in the second year of a two-year deal.

Anthony Stolarz / TOR – Stolarz (lower body) has been out for months due to a knee injury. He had an extremely hot start before he went down, while battling Joseph Woll for starts. He will be a welcome addition to pull off of IR. Anthony has practiced with the team the last few days but spoke after about needing to get his stamina back. Interpret this how you will until we get a solid return date.

Sean Monahan / CBJ – Monahan (upper body) has unfortunately received an elongated healing time from team doctors after he was re-examined and showed signs of a slow recovery. His timeline has been upgraded to another 6-8 weeks of recovery. Oof. The biggest benefactor of Sean's luck is Adam Fantilli. Fantilli was touted by many pre-draft to have a breakout this season and since, he is one of the only talented forwards on the team not producing due to inconsistent linemates and ice time. That has quickly changed after taking over Monahan's spot in between Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov. Marchenko joked in the media that they are working on turning Adam Fantilli into "Adam Fantilllov" by the time they are done with him and it seems it hasn't taken long. Fantillov is that chuvak (guy).

Semyon Varlamov / NYI – Varlamov has missed significant time but will be returning to the lineup tomorrow against the Flyers. The Islanders' fan base will be happy to see him back on the ice as interim back up Marcus Hogberg went down with an upper body injury a few days ago after posting some good starts.

Miro Heiskanen / DAL – Heiskanen (lower body) was assassinated (just kidding) by Mark Stone while making a move to the inside exiting his own zone. It did not look good at all as Miro was helped off the ice putting no weight on that left leg. No updates as of this morning but it may come out later today so check mine or the Dobber social feeds for that update.

Noah Dobson / NYI – Dobson (lower body) has been out of the lineup for a week or so after being bundled along the boards by Cole Sillinger which wouldn't be the worst if his right leg didn't decide it was gonna stay in place while the rest of his body met the ice flat on his back. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looked, and it reportedly won't require surgery but has been deemed as week-to-week for the time being. With Ryan Pulock out as well, the Islanders have signed Tony Deangelo and are feeding him and Alexander Romanov some decent minutes. Romanov has been on a tear for the last week in cats leagues, filling the hits and shots tables while adding a few points.

Kiefer Sherwood / VAN – Sherwood (undisclosed) went down January 24th and has yet to skate. Sherwood is making a name for himself this year after an apparent conversation with head coach Rick Tocchet. Tocchet listened and has given the former undrafted AHL all-star his opportunity to create offense. Even though it’s a big uptick on his career, Kiefer is only seeing 14:36 on average a night. That hasn't hurt him in the hits category which is where most of his value forms for fantasy leagues. Sherwood is currently leading the league with 273 hits. Next closest in the league for hit totals is 173. My shoulders just got sore reading that. 

John Tavares / TOR – Tavares (lower body) has been seen skating with the team today in a full contact jersey this morning. That should mean that he is ready to go for tonight against the Wild at home. Tavares has decided to turn back the years before his injury and willed himself into a must start on nearly every roster constructed. Tavares has been running a 75% IPP this season and it's not unfathomable that he continues it given his career numbers but it is slightly high compared to his other seasons with Toronto apart from 2021-22 when he posted an 81.08% (!). Getting Tavares back should be a very welcome readdition to most squads for the remainder of the year. It's worth noting that in the last three years Tavares has been throwing the body at nearly double the rate helping him immensely in banger leagues.

John Klingberg / EDM – This one is of big interest to me. Klingberg, who had double hip resurfacing surgery (ouch) in the fall of 2023 is ready to give the NHL one last shot. Klingberg may not be of huge fantasy value right now, but if he performs there may be some really dire consequences for Edmonton if the franchise decides to big brain their back end. The tone in the Edmonton media has soured on Evan Bouchard further than usual and with the Oilers penchant for signing these one year guys who perform well enough to long term deals (see Evander Kane, Kris Russel, Corey Perry) it has me worried to say the least if Klingberg resembles anything near a serviceable defenseman. Expect John to make his lineup debut on Saturday against the Leafs at home.

Valeri Nichushkin / COL – No new updates on Nichushkin, considered week-to-week since January 22nd.

Boone Jenner / CBJ – Jenner may be returning to the lineup after the Four Nations face off.

Patrick Kane / DET – Kane (upper body) is day to day and has been placed on IR to create roster space. Shouldn't be out too long.

Nico Hischier / NJD – Hischier (undisclosed) has been designated as week-to-week by the Devils. It makes sense to me that he will not return before the Four Nations tournament, but you never know. Hischier has been enjoying a career year all around.

Evgeni Malkin / PIT – Malkin (lower body) left mid game on monday against San Jose after a neutral zone collision and has been placed on the IR by Pittsburgh. He is designated as week-to-week. After a hot start to the season Malkin has struggled mightily in the last few months so hopefully this rest will help him regain some spark.

Matthew Knies / TOR – Knies (upper body) has missed two games but is possible to play on Saturday against Edmonton. Knies has seen a big jump in deployment this year most recently playing on a line with Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews at even strength (awful spot) and has been on power play one as well.

Mikhail Sergachev / UTA – Sergachev (upper body) has missed over a week of time but is set for a return soon. He is a game time decision for tonight's contest against Pittsburgh.

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!