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 know it's tough to come back to vanilla NHL play after watching best on best but we're all struggling here together. 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.

William Nylander / TOR – Nylander (unknown) sat out the overtime period against Boston on Tuesday night. He is being evaluated today and we should see an update tomorrow on his status. It doesn't sound major as coach Craig Berube said something was "bothering him". We wait, and we see. Nylander is one of my favorite fantasy players. He has the ability to drive a line from the wing even though he rarely has to deal with a line full of meatheads. Watching him play in your lineup is a treat.

Brady Tkachuk / OTT – Tkachuk (lower body) won’t play Wednesday against Winnipeg alongside teammates Josh Norris and Shane Pinto. Tkachuk was injured during the Four Nations tournament and seemed to push things quite far for himself in the name of his country. We will see how it turns out, but this may affect him for the rest of the year if he is in the lineup or not.

Roman Josi / NSH – Josi is being evaluated from an upper-body injury after he was hit by Sam Bennett in the second period of Tuesday’s game versus the Panthers, and is absent from practice today (Wednesday).

Adam Fox / NYR – Fox (upper body) left Tuesday’s game versus the Islanders in the third period alongside K'andre Miller leaving the Rangers to finish the game with only four defensemen. Fox is still being evaluated by the team and has no timeline for return.

Valeri Nichushkin / COL – Nichushkin (lower body) is set to return to the lineup in the next few days for the Avalanche. It will be interesting to see where he slots into the lineup, as their supporting cast has been struggling mightily in the last few weeks of games played and could use the boost.

Quinn Hughes / VAN – Hughes (oblique) is still listed as day to day but we should see him back in the lineup soon if he has no setbacks. Filip Hronek has taken over power play duties from Hughes while he is out. Is Hronek worth a pickup? Probably not given the timeline of the injury, and Hronek's ability. I would be rushing out to grab Mason Lohrei instead with McAvoy out.

Chris Kreider / NYR – Kreider (upper body) was a late scratch against the Islanders on Sunday after taking warm-ups, and was replaced by Brennan Othmann. Keep an eye for updates on Kreider as there are no estimates on a return for him just yet, similar to Adam Fox.

Matthew Tkachuk / FLA – Tkachuk (groin) continues to be evaluated but won’t face the Predators on Tuesday after head coach Paul Maurice told reporters, “He saw some people over the weekend. Going to wait a few more days, get a couple more looks…we don’t want to be giving out reports every second day that aren’t confirmed. So we’ll wait on that for a few more days,” Chances are Tkachuk misses a week or two here, but with no concrete update it's a bit harder to decipher.

Joel Eriksson Ek / MIN – Eriksson Ek (lower body) is week-to-week, the club announced Tuesday. Joel played in Minnesota's clash with Detroit this past Saturday, and was absent from practice come Monday. Erikkson Ek has had beyond a disappointing fantasy season, coming off of a career year last season.

Noah Dobson / NYI – Dobson (lower body) is closing in on a return to game action but was not available for Tuesday’s divisional matchup against the Rangers. Dobson will be a most welcome addition back to the Islanders lineup when he returns with Tony Deangelo averaging over 23 minutes a game recently, and Alexander Romanov not far behind.

Thatcher Demko / VAN – Demko (lower body) has had the start from hell to his career. He dominated for one year, season ending injury, struggling to get back into the lineup and stay there. Now Lankinen has been signed by Vanvcouver to a four year x $4.5 million contract. There has been speculation recently that with this news, Demko could be on his way out of Vancouver as early as next season. I guess we wait and see what happens, but I have liked Lankinen for taking over this job all season given Demko's situation.

Kirill Kaprizov / MIN – Kaprizov (lower body) is expected back by the team in a week or two. He suffered a setback that surprised coach Bill Guerin as he stated there may be a few things going on and they won’t see him for a few weeks. Another disappointing update for one of the league’s brightest stars.

Charlie McAvoy / BOS – McAvoy (shoulder) was placed on injured reserve Saturday, per the NHL media site. Mason Lohrei has taken over McAvoy's power play time and is definitely worth a pickup if you're in need of a defenseman. Lohrei has averaged 22:35 ice time in the last two games with Lindholm and McAvoy out, and has been good for two assists in each of those games with one a game on the power play. Hard to find these kinds of guys right before playoffs.

Jacob Markstrom / NJD – Markstrom (lower body) participated fully in practice yesterday, but this is apparently just the next step in a rehab process the Devils have cooked up for him. Markstrom should probably not see game time for another week or so, but it is difficult to say as they are keeping mum about what his timeline actually is. In his absence, Nico Daws and Jake Allen have filled in nicely. In the 10 games since Markstrom went down, the Devil's back up goaltending duo has been good for first in the league in save percentage and have allowed more goals than only Winnipeg goalies in the same time frame. Good stuff!              

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!