Jeff Skinner has found a new home, finding his way to San Jose on a one-year contract worth $3 million. Skinner was held to just 29 points in 72 games in his lone season with the Oilers, and he was even healthy scratched for much of the playoffs. This might literally be his last NHL chance, but he may have a better opportunity to contribute to the Sharks than he did the Oilers, given the current states of the two teams. That being said, I'm probably not drafting Skinner on any of my fantasy teams, as the chances of a major turnaround still seem low.

Cliffy wrote a more detailed Fantasy Take on what Skinner could look like on the Sharks.

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Injuries. You know them and you hate them but you can't avoid them. Even with the absolute best preparation and planning (that you can find right here), injuries can still wreck a fantasy season. They could hit your team in terms of volume with more injuries to non-droppable players than IR slots, the quality of player(s) affected, and even the timing such as during the fantasy playoffs.

Remember that for injury updates, you can check out our article Injury Ward, which we plan to run two times per week this coming season. The Dobber Player News will also provide injury updates as they are announced.

I've been tasked with writing injury updates for each team for the Fantasy Guide, as well as providing input on updating Band-Aid Boy status for players on Frozen Tools. Based on what I've found, I'll share some observations on certain teams regarding long and short injury reports as well as high and low numbers of Band-Aid Boys.

By the way, the Fantasy Guide will be available later this month. You can secure yours at the Dobber Shop. Better yet, get it as part of the Keeper League Fantasy Pack or the Ultimate Fantasy Pack, which both include the Prospects Report (which is available now!)

Teams with longest injury reports entering the season: Florida, New Jersey, Vegas

For Florida, this is easy to explain. The Panthers are experiencing collateral damage from long Stanley Cup runs for the past three seasons. The playoffs are a war of attrition, and the Panthers can handle the physical element as well as anyone. Although they appear to be on the verge of building a dynasty by getting the band back together in re-signing Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand, the strain of playing more hockey than anyone has to catch up at some point. On top of that, the Panthers will probably have a few significant players participating in the midseason Olympic tournament.

I'm especially concerned about the status of Matthew Tkachuk. After the playoffs, Tkachuk mentioned that he had been playing through a torn adductor that was ripped off the bone as well as a sports hernia. Tkachuk suffered those injuries during the 4 Nations, and he did not return until the playoffs. This type of injury requires surgery followed by a 4-6-month recovery, so Tkachuk may not be ready to start the season if that's the recovery plan. Currently over the salary cap by nearly $3 million, the Panthers could move Tkachuk to LTIR to start the season instead of being forced to trade a player (Evan Rodrigues and his $3 million cap hit have been rumored).

New Jersey has a bunch of minor injuries, but one important player stood out. Jack Hughes has missed 20 games in back-to-back seasons and at least 20 games in three of his past four seasons. As well, he has undergone shoulder surgery in both 2024 and 2025 (it was the right shoulder in 2025, but I could not find which shoulder in 2024). Regardless, I've told Dobber that he absolutely has to make Hughes a certified Band-Aid Boy. Although Hughes is expected to be ready for training camp, you should be drafting him based on a projection of at least 10 missed games. He has top-10 upside in pure points leagues if he can remain healthy for an entire season, but in bangers leagues he takes a hit because he can't deliver one.

Not related to the video above, we all know that Vegas like to push the envelope as far as possible. That's especially the case with how they handle the salary cap. They are also a team with more than its share of reported injuries. But are they a team that is genuinely injury-prone, or are they more likely to move players with the slightest ailments onto IR? That's something to think about. I'm not trying to suggest that Alex Pietrangelo's injuries aren't serious and that Vegas is simply pushing aside a well-used defenseman in order to fit Mitch Marner in. Hey, it's an effective strategy if having players in your lineup that are less than 100% causes a steep performance decline.

Team with shortest injury report entering the season: Los Angeles

I could not find any injuries to report on the Kings, so this will be a much shorter section than the one above. The Kings are about a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of hits and penalty minutes, so it might simply be about having durable players or the best recovery program or just plain luck. It may also be what gets reported as opposed to what injuries they actually have. Regardless, the Kings are a very durable team, with offseason acquisition Joel Armia the team's only Band-Aid Boy.

Teams with most Band-Aid Boys: Carolina, Minnesota, New Jersey (8 each)

Team with fewest Band-Aid Boys: Anaheim, Tampa Bay (0 each)

I'll try to lump these all together, as I can't definitively say why some teams have a ton of Band-Aid Boys and others have none. For the teams that get hammered with injuries, perhaps one or two injuries results in other players getting pressed into larger roles that they can handle, creating a snowball effect.

Having a prominent Band-Aid Boy out of the lineup could have a negative impact on the rest of the team. For example, the Wild scored only 2.51 GF/GP from December 27 to April 8, a stretch where Kirill Kaprizov only appeared in three games. That was the third-lowest total in the league over that stretch. Conversely, the Wild scored 2.78 GF/GP during the entire season.

Also look for the "next man up" on high Band-Aid Boy teams. Having Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek out of the lineup for extended periods also created an opening for Marco Rossi on the top power play, although Rossi's overall production didn't differ much between when Kaprizov was in and out of the lineup. Because Jared Spurgeon is a Band-Aid Boy (82 GP total over last two seasons), Zeev Buium could jump onto the Wild's top power play very soon. For what it's worth, Buium played on the top power play in the four playoff games he appeared in.

The Canes didn't appear to have a ton of man games lost due to injury in 2024-25, but Frederik Andersen stands out as one particular Band-Aid Boy. Andersen has appeared in 38 combined games over the past two regular seasons. Pyotr Kochetkov may not have been as effective as you might think with a higher workload (.897 SV% in 47 GP). That means if Andersen is injured yet again, Cayden Primeau might receive a new lease on life with some starts in Carolina. Last season's NHL numbers were a disaster (4.70 GAA and .836 SV% in 11 GP), but Primeau's AHL numbers were on the opposite end of the scale (1.96 GAA and .927 SV% in 26 GP).

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Dobber has another video! This one is on Logan Stankoven.

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