There was a slew of important injury updates yesterday that will have huge impacts over the final week of the fantasy hockey regular season so let's get right to them.

Florida's Carter Verhaeghe was not in the lineup on Thursday night with Mackie Samoskevich taking his spot on the top line. It doesn't appear to be anything serious, but this is a lot of injuries piling up for Florida as we are just over a week away from the playoffs.

The Panthers put one of the final nails in the coffin of Detroit's season in that game as they skated away with a 4-1 win over the Red Wings. That loss keeps Detroit eight points back of Montreal with four games remaining so they need a lot to break their way to get to the postseason.

Brad Marchand scored his first goal in a Florida uniform, adding a block and a hit in a little over 15 minutes in ice time.

Evan Rodrigues (PP), Mackie Samoskevich, and Aleksander Barkov had the other tallies. That makes 20 goals on the season for Barkov, who now has 10 straight seasons with at least 20 goals dating back to 2015-16.

Gustav Forsling managed a pair of assists (one PP) and four shots in Florida's win as goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 24 shots for his 33^rd win of the campaign.

Alex DeBrincat had the lone goal for the Red Wings, totaling three shots in the contest. He needs four goals for a 40-goal season or, more realistically, four points for a 70-point season.

Cam Talbot allowed four goals on 31 shots for the loss.

*

New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin was not dressed the team's home game against the Rangers on Thursday. He has not been shut down for the season or anything of that nature yet, but again, with so little time remaining in the season, expectations should be very tempered about if/when he returns.

*

One player that was officially shut down was Boston's Charlie McAvoy:

No surprise but Sacco announced neither McAvoy nor Kastelic will play the rest of the season. Zadorov is still a question mark for tonight

— steve conroy (@conroyherald) April 10, 2025

This isn't a big surprise, given how much time he has missed, but it does put a cap to a season that started slowly production-wise and finished with 50 total games played with none coming from late-February onward. The hope now is that he can have a full-ish offseason of training and be ready for September.

*

A bit of an update on Ottawa winger Brady Tkachuk:

No Brady Tkachuk on the ice but Nick Jensen is out here #Sens

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 10, 2025

He said he expect to start skating Friday and that he should be ready for playoffs. Positive steps in the right direction as he returns from injury but even if he's in the lineup for Game 1 of the postseason, it will be very fair to ask just how healthy he will be.  

*

Some positive news on Dallas' Tyler Seguin:

Pete DeBoer said Tyler Seguin is knocking on the door.

Miro Heiskanen is a step behind, with talks ongoing about re-integrating him to the group and the same steps as Seguin after that.

— Sam Nestler (@samnestler) April 10, 2025

After Thursday night's game, Dallas has games on Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday. There are plenty of opportunities for Seguin to get back into the lineup and get his feet under him before the postseason arrives.

*

Colorado had a couple of key names back in the lineup last night as both Martin Necas and Samuel Girard returned:

Bednar confirms Necas and Girard are playing tonight.

No Drouin or Manson. Drouin is likely playing this weekend. Manson, maybe not.

— Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) April 10, 2025

That is the good news for Colorado, along with Gabriel Landeskog hopefully getting a game in this weekend down in the AHL.

The bad news is that Nathan MacKinnon did not play on Thursday night and may not return before the end of the regular season. Colorado has a back-to-back set this weekend and then does not play again until the postseason, so it is a chance to give MacKinnon a lot of time off before they try to make a run at another Stanley Cup.

*

Both Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo were not in the lineup for Vegas' home game against Seattle last night, but Tomas Hertl did return from his own upper-body injury that has kept him out of game action for three weeks. Vegas needs to be healthy for a deep playoff run (as does any team, really), so it'll be interesting to see how they treat Eichel and Pietrangelo down the stretch.

*

Chicago went into Boston and laid a beating on the Bruins by a 5-2 margin. That win puts Chicago five points clear of San Jose for last in the league and the Sharks have four games left. It seems very likely this game will allow San Jose to have the best odds for the first overall pick once again.

Nick Folingo scored twice with solo goals from Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Donato (his 30^th of the season), and Kevin Korchinski. Foligno had a pair of hits and that gives him 192 on the year, tying his total from last year. If he can amass eight hits in the final three games, he would post 200 hits for the first time in the last five seasons.

Alex Vlasic had a solid multi-cat night with an assist, two blocks, and two hits.

Arvid Soderblom stopped 31 of 33 shots for his ninth win.

Both David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie tallied a goal and an assist for the Bruins. They also had three shots each while Geekie added four hits. Pastrnak's assist gives him 60 on the year, which in turn gives him his second straight 40-goal, 60-assist campaign. He also has 66 points at 5-on-5 this season, eight more than the next-closest player (Nikita Kucherov) and 11 more than the third-closest. It is an astounding season on a very bad team.

Jeremy Swayman gave up four goals on 20 shots in defeat.

*

Columbus kept their playoff hopes alive, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 3-2 win at home to Buffalo. The Blue Jackets are now six points back of Montreal and each team has four games left. A lot has to go right for Columbus, but they're still in the chase with less than a week left in the season.

James van Riemsdyk, Zach Aston-Reese, and Boone Jenner (PP) all scored for the Blue Jackets. Kirill Marchenko assist on the Jenner goal and that officially gives Marchenko a 30-goal/40-assist season for the first time. He also had five shots and a pair of hits in the game, so he needs one more shot to reach 200 for the first time and one more hit to set a career-high. It has been just a sublime season for the scoring winger.

Jet Greaves stopped 39 of 41 shots to help keep the Jackets in the running for a playoff position.

Rasmus Dahlin registered a goal and an assist for the Sabres while JJ Peterka scored his 25^th goal of the campaign. That is back-to-back seasons with at least 25 goals for Peterka, and it feels he's right on the cusp of pushing towards a point-per-game status as soon as next season.

James Reimer saw three pucks get past him on the 30 shots he faced to take the loss.

*

Seth Jarvis tallied the game-tying goal with 1:45 left in the game to secure one point for Carolina but the Washington Capitals took the extra point in the shootout, winning the game by a 5-4 score.

Pierre-Luc Dubois (PP), Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome, and Nic Dowd marked the goals for the Capitals. Wilson finished the game with four shots, three blocks, and five hits. He needs seven more shots this season to reach 170 shots for the first time in his career.

Charlie Lindgren managed the win after stopping 30 of 34 shots sent his way.

Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake, and Jordan Martinook also scored for the Hurricanes. That gives Stankoven three goals in his last six games as he's starting to heat up just on the precipice of the postseason.

Frederik Andersen was in net for Carolina and allowed four goals on 28 shots.

*

Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Winnipeg Jets went into Dallas and came out with a 4-0 win. That was Hellebuyck's eighth shutout of the season, extending his career-high and his lead in the league. It was also his 45^th win, setting a new career-high mark. The Vezina Trophy is his, now it's just a matter as to whether he wins the Hart Trophy.

Kyle Connor scored twice for the Jets, totaling five shots in the game. He is now up to 40 goals on the season, his second time cracking the 40-goal plateau. Connor is also up to 94 points, which sets a new career-high for him.

Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron had the other goals for the Jets.

Both Nikolaj Ehlers and Neal Pionk were back in the lineup as Winnipeg looks to get as healthy as they can for the postseason.

Four pucks flew past Jake Oettinger as he faced 35 shots on the night.

*

Kiefer Sherwood and Dakota Joshua each scored a goal and a tallied an assist in Vancouver's 4-1 win in Colorado. For Sherwood, that pushes him to 40 points for the first time in his career and leaves him one goal shy of his first 20-goal season. Considering he has 446 (!) hits, just a sublime multi-cat year.

Nils Hoglander and Jake DeBrusk both scored a goal for the Canucks in victory. That makes 26 on the year for DeBrusk, who is one shy of tying his career-high, which would be the third time reaching 27 goals. He has been what the team needed him to be as an offseason signee.

Filip Hronek got an assist while adding three shots and four hits.

Kevin Lankinen stopped 31 of 32 shots for his 25^th win of the campaign.

A shot from Devon Toews was Lankinen's only blemish.

Mackenzie Blackwood allowed three goals on 29 shots for just his 11^th regulation loss in 35 starts in an Avalanche uniform.

*

Nashville scored twice on the power play, once from Nick Blankenburg and once from Filip Forsberg, en route to a 4-3 shootout win in Utah. Ryan O'Reilly assisted the Blankenburg goal, and then scored one himself in the third period, while adding three shots and two blocks in the win.

Juuse Saros had a great game for Nashville with 39 stops on 42 shots.

Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, and Nick Bjugstad scored for Utah. Clayton Keller assisted the Guenther goal and now has 85 points this year, one shy of his career-high 86 set back in 2022-23.

Karel Vejmelka took the shootout loss, allowing three goals on 31 shots in regulation.

*

Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson both got in the goal column for Vegas as the skated away with a 2-1 home win against Seattle. That goal leaves Barbashev one point shy of his second career 50-point season (he had 60 back in 2021-22).

Brayden McNabb had a very good multi-cat night with an assist, two shots, four blocks, and two hits.

Adin Hill picked up his 31^st win of the season by holding the Kraken to one goal on 25 shots.

Jared McCann was Seattle's only goal scorer, and that got him to the 60-point plateau for the third straight season.

Joey Daccord was solid in net but allowed one more goal than Hill on the same number of shots.

*

Kevin Fiala scored two power-play goals, and Quinton Byfield scored one himself, as Los Angeles cruised to a 6-1 win over Anaheim. Those goals from Fiala push him to 32 on the campaign, one shy of his career-best 33 goals back in 2021-22, while tying his second-highest season total in shots on goal (225). There has been a decline in assists but it has otherwise been a very good season from the scoring winger.

Alex Laferriere, Anze Kopitar, and Jordan Spence scored the other goals for the Kings. Kopitar now has 20 goals on the year, his third straight such season. He has also done it with 92 shots on goal. Here is a neat tidbit: Josh Norris (21 goals on 96 shots), Simon Holmstrom (20 goals on 89 shots), and Kopitar (20 goals on 92 shots) all have a reasonably good chance of finishing the season with at least 20 goals on fewer than 100 shots. Prior to this season, it was done once in three years (Marcus Foligno in 2021-22) and just four times this century.

Andrei Kuzmenko had three assists including two on the power play. Up until March 7^th, Los Angeles was 30^th in the league by power play percentage, going 21 for 140. Since Kuzmenko's first game in a Kings uniform, the team is 15^th in the league (11 for 49). If they can be even league average, that is a huge, huge improvement on their outlook for the postseason.

Darcy Kuemper allowed just one goal on 25 shots for his 29^th win.

Cutter Gauthier scored Anaheim's lone goal, his 20^th of the season. That gives him eight goals in his last 13 games as he's really turned it on in the second half of his rookie season.

Lukas Dostal gave up all six goals on 29 shots against.