Good morning, good afternoon, good evening everyone. Welcome back to the Injury Ward. My name is Logan Clarkson and every Wednesday and Sunday 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.

Auston Matthews / Toronto Maple Leafs – Matthews (lower body) is doubtful to suit up versus the Blue Jackets on Thursday after general manager Brad Treliving told reporters, “I would suspect Thursday’s probably not a possibility … I don’t anticipate too, too long” Mark Masters of TSN reports. Not the best news on Auston, but it certainly could be worse. Hopefully he’s not coming back before he’s ready and prolonging the healing process. Matthews had only managed 14 points in 17 games before the injury, a 68 point pace over a full season. His shot rates are similar to last year, and that would be a good sign, if his points per game wasn’t already down 0.66 this season, from his 1.32 from two years ago. 

Mikael Granlund / Anaheim Ducks – Granlund (lower body) aggravated his injury and was not available against Utah on Monday. Granlund had a five-point effort before he was injured, and will return to fight his way up the lineup, receiving only 17 minutes on average in his nine games so far this season. He is a point-per-game player so far (three goals, six assists) but as I mentioned, more than half of that came in one night. 

Victor Hedman / Tampa Bay Lightning – Hedman (undisclosed) was a game time decision for the Lightning on Tuesday but ended up sitting out his fourth game in a row. Expect him back in the lineup some time this week. 

Matthew Knies / Toronto Maple Leafs – Knies (lower body) was a game time call and did not end up being available to play on Tuesday versus the Blues. Craig Berube said Knies’s injury has been lingering for a while, and acted up today so he couldn’t play. I managed to draft Knies in my main league and I’ve been extremely happy with him. He’s on a 95 point pace so far (five goals & 17 assists in 19 GP). Nearly all of his production has come at even strength, having only two powerplay points so far, both being goals. His shooting percentage is a bit low compared to his previous two seasons, add that to his shot rates, and hit rates being up and we’re looking at a solid solid fantasy player having his coming out party. 

Elias Lindholm / Boston Bruins – Lindholm (lower body) is set to travel with the team for its three-game road trip through California, Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe reported Tuesday. Lindholm started hot with four points in his first three games, and is riding a high shooting percentage of 18.2 so far which has afforded him nine points through 13 games, a whopping seven of them coming on the man advantage. 

Charlie McAvoy / Boston Bruins – McAvoy (upper body) will not travel with the Bruins on their road trip out west, according to Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe on Tuesday. McAvoy took a biscuit at mach speed to the jibs and a chunk of his face hit the ejection seat in the process, you can see a slow motion video of it on Twitter if you should so choose to do so. The Bruins are expected to release information on the length of his absence today, but if I were to hazard a guess he’s got some long term jaw issues to deal with after this one. 

Jake Neighbours / St. Louis Blues – Neighbours (leg) participated in Monday’s practice and appears to be nearing a return to the lineup, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports. Neighbours hasn’t been able to play since October 25th, nearly a month ago. In his last game that day he scored two goals on two shots. He’s another guy in a similar place to Mathew Knies, but with an extra year under his belt and a little less expectation following him. He’s only played eight games so far this season, but with seven points through those eight games, a 72 points pace doesn’t sound too bad especially if he keeps hitting like he has early on this year, doling out 2.5 hits on average every game. 

Drew Doughty / Los Angeles Kings – Doughty (lower body) is considered week-to-week, Zach Dooley of the Kings’ official site reports Monday. Bad break for Drew, who is fighting for a place on team Canada's Olympic roster. Doughty has lost the majority of his powerplay time to Brandt Clarke this season, who has slowly been becoming the guy in Los Angeles the past few seasons. The production hasn’t really come for Brandt yet, but it’s only a matter of time really. For Doughty, the production has seen a steep decline in recent years, all the way down to a destitute 0.42 points per game (eight points in 19 games played). 

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins / Edmonton Oilers – Nugent-Hopkins (undisclosed) isn’t traveling with the Oilers for their upcoming three-game road trip, per Jason Gregor of Sports 1440 Edmonton on Tuesday. Nuggy, as his teammates call him, has been out of the lineup since November 8th. Nuge has 18 points in 18 games, refusing to slow down in his age 33 season after only contributing 48 points last season which was his lowest points per game since 2016-17. He’s only gone pointless in five of his 18 games this year, a stark difference even though the Oilers are struggling to finish off wins. 

Josh Norris / Buffalo Sabres – Norris (upper body) participated in Monday’s morning skate and could return ahead of schedule, Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550 reports. Norris has never played more than 66 games in a season and is usually closer to 50 so fingers crossed that he’s missed his share already for the season. The one constant in the list of linemates for him in Buffalo is Tage Thompson. Norris could very well replace Josh Doan when he returns to the lineup on that top line again with Tuch and Thompson. 

Conor Garland / Vancouver Canucks – Garland (undisclosed) was not in the lineup versus the Panthers on Monday, Dan Murphy of Sportsnet reports. Garland has been seeing the ice more than he ever has in his career so far. He can thank his time in the penalty kill for the increase. He’s yet to get a short-handed point but he’s exactly the slippery type of player who can easily be sprung in alone from a blocked shot. Garland has 13 points in 17 games played so far and is clipping along at a career best 0.76 points per game so far. 

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!