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, and for this week the Four Nations tournament as well. 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.

Kirill Marchenko / CBJ – Marchenko (upper body) has been out of the lineup for a few weeks now with a broken jaw, but it appears he is being evaluated this week to determine if he is available for this Saturday's game. Pleasant surprise heading into your fantasy playoffs as Marchenko has been the most prolific scorer on Columbus this season.

Bryan Rust / PIT – Rust (lower-body) is expected to be activated from IR and will be in the lineup for Saturday's game. Rust will be on the top power play top line as he usually is. Rust only missed one game prior to the Four Nations.

Nico Hischier / NJD – Hischier (oblique) participated in Tuesday's practice and looks to be in line for a return to the lineup this Saturday against Dallas at home. Hischier started the year off red hot and was ranked top-five in my Yahoo leagues for the first couple months of the season. He cooled off for a while but is back to point-per-game status over the last six games or so.

Jacob Markstrom / NJD – Markstrom (lower body) has been out of the lineup since January 22nd with an MCL sprain. His initial timeline was four-to-six weeks for return, and he was retroactively placed on IR today for a call up, but it's just a paper transaction and he can be activated any time now. The four-week mark is approaching on Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled for an update in the next few days or when teams return to NHL play. Markstrom has been great for Jersey this year posting a 21-9-5 record with a .912 save percentage in 36 games played. Jake Allen has filled in fine since Markstrom's injury and he is 4-3-0 in seven games with a goals against average of 2.08 and a save percentage of .934 in the seven games since then. 

Igor Shesterkin / NYR – Shesterkin (upper body) has been skating on his own but is not expected to participate in practice Tuesday. Igor took a seat on February eighth and was slated to be out for one-to-two weeks. 

Matthew Tkachuk / FLA & USA – Tkachuk (lower body) is expected to be available for Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off Final against Team Canada, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on Tuesday. Matthew and his brother have had an eventful tournament throwing the body and throwing hands and both have taken some lumps. 

Brady Tkachuk / OTT & USA – Tkachuk (lower body) has the exact same report from Elliotte Friedman, calling for him to be available for Thursday's final against Canada. 

Quinn Hughes / VAN & USA – Hughes (oblique) was initially said to be joining Team USA ahead of the team’s 4 Nations Face-Off championship game against Canada on Thursday, after initially being left out of the squad. After it was reported, it was retracted and said that team USA needs another injury/sickness in order to activate Hughes for the game and he is staying put in Vancouver for the time being and participating in the Canucks skate today (Wednesday).

Auston Matthews / TOR & USA – Matthews (upper body) has been dealing with injuries all season long and it has hampered him massively. Instead of the top-10 player you expect, Auston has struggled this year missing games and posting lacklustre shot and point totals during most of it. I hope it’s not his wrist that’s bothered him for multiple years now but it doesn't seem too promising for him to get to 100% healthy this season regardless.

Charlie McAvoy / BOS & USA – McAvoy (upper body) suffered a right shoulder injury during Team USA’s clash against Finland on Thursday. He returned to Boston but began to experience increasing pain, which led to him being diagnosed with an infection as well as a significant AC joint injury. He had a procedure Tuesday and is in the hospital to be treated with IV antibiotics, the Bruins announced Wednesday. Not good news for Boston or the USA. Look for Mason Lohrei to take over top power play when the Bruins return to NHL action on the 22nd against the Ducks.

Mika Zibanejad / NYR – Zibanejad (illness) was held out of Sweden's win against the Americans on Monday.

Linus Ullmark / OTT – Ullmark (illness) was also held out of Monday’s game against the American's due to being sick.

Logan Cooley / UTA – Cooley (lower body) practiced in a non-contact jersey Tuesday, Brogan Houston of Deseret News reports. Cooley was injured in a game on January 30th and was said to be out indefinitely. Pretty quick return for that prognosis! Hopefully Cooley can get back into game shape quickly as even though he has been running a high PDO for most of the season (very lucky). He's been seeing an increase in ice time through every quarter this season. This season in each quarter his ice time has gone from 16:02 > 18:09 > and in the last eight games 20:44(!). That’s some promising stuff for the budding superstar who looks to reunite with Dylan Guenther in his recent return.

Connor Ingram / UTA – Ingram (upper body) is day-to-day ahead of Saturday’s road game versus the Kings, Brogan Houston of Deseret News Sports on Tuesday. Ingram has had a less than stellar season attached to an .888 save percentage. Karel Vejmelka has tended the net with him out in the past this season although Jaxson Stauber holds the best numbers out of the trio in only four games played, hovering at a .925 through 242:25 of ice time.

Thatcher Demko / VAN – Demko (lower body) is week-to-week and won’t accompany Vancouver on the team’s upcoming five-game road trip, Thomas Drance of The Athletic reports Tuesday. I can't say that I’m surprised that this saga continues for Thatcher. It's brutal to watch. Assuming this is related to the knee issue that has persisted all season, it's really bad news in my opinion. Kevin Lankinen's music is playing loudly right now for the Canucks, and those who managed to hang onto him with Demko stealing starts will now be rewarded.

Valeri Nichushkin / COL – Nichushkin (lower body) seems set to return to the gameday lineup this weekend. Nuke had been skating on his own for the last three Avalanche games before the international break. He is slated to take part in practice today to get used to some new linemates. He should play this weekend barring another setback which actually seems to keep happening so check for updates.

Nikita Kucherov / TBL – Kucherov (upper body) was a late scratch for Tampa Bay's last game before the break. He's back at practice today as a full participant and doesn't look to be missing out on any further game time. I can't say much about Kuch you don't already know but his five points in his last two games played should pretty well sum up his importance to this team.

Shea Theodore / VGK – Theodore (upper body) is listed as week-to-week after taking a check from Adrian Kempe along the boards in Canada's first 4 Nations game a week ago today (Wednesday the 12th). Bad news for the Vegas powerplay, but we should see what Noah Hanifin has to show us in the weeks before his return. Theodore is clipping along at similar rates as last season aside from a bit of a dip in hits and should be sustainable when he returns. 

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 and enjoy the best-on-best hockey we have been deprived of people!