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.

Connor Bedard / Chicago Blackhawks – Bedard (upper body) won’t need surgery but will be sidelined until the calendar flips to 2026, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports Monday. Not the worst news we could have received on the sixth overall scorer in the league. Bedard had many detractors this offseason wondering if he could live up to his billing as a generational talent. I was wondering if he would turn it on, myself. He’s quieted the voices so far this season with 44 points in 31 games, carrying a supremely average team around him and Chicago is only five points out of a wild card spot at this time. The top line is now Burakovsky, Bertuzzi, and Nazar. 

Dylan Holloway / St. Louis Blues – Holloway is dealing with a right ankle injury and has been placed on injured reserve Monday. Holloway was injured on Sunday in practice of all things. Holloway had a breakout season last year after joining the Blues on an offer sheet along with teammate Phillip Bromberg. Dylan amassed 63 points in 77 games, for 0.82 points per game played. This season, he’s fallen off drastically from those numbers following the trend of his full team in St. Louis. His powerplay time and ice time alike have risen this year, along with his hits and blocks per game while his shots have held steady. 

Bo Horvat / New York Islanders – Horvat (lower body) was not in the lineup for Tuesday’s game in Detroit. Horvat has been filling the net thanks to a 17.1 shooting percentage. It’s not entirely unsustainable since he’s hit similar numbers over full seasons a few times before, and he’s taking a boatload of shots with 3.5 per game. 

Darcy Kuemper / Los Angeles Kings – Kuemper (upper body) was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. Kuemper was the recipient of a forearm shiver from Mikko Rantanen, who’s been on the end of more than a few injury controversies lately. Pheonix Copley has been called up from the Ontario Reign l, and will back up Anton Forsberg for the time being. Darcy has picked up more or less where he left off last year, being 10-6-6 with a 0.917 save percentage through 23 games played. 

Anthony Stolarz / Toronto Maple Leafs – Stolarz (upper body) is expected to see a specialist after head coach Craig Berube told reporters Tuesday, “He’s not making the progress that we thought he would make,” Chris Johnston of The Athletic reports. Quite unfortunate for Anthony, but with Dennis Hildeby performing and Joseph Woll returned as of Tuesday night in a come from behind 3-2 win against Chicago at home, they are doing alright without him right now. 

Brandon Hagel / Tampa Bay Lightning – Hagel (undisclosed) was injured in the final frame of Monday’s 5-2 loss to the Panthers, and there was no update on his status after the game, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. Brandon was slapped with an outstretched elbow by Seth Jones of the Panthers. The NHL department of player safety has a bit of a situation on their hands lately with ignoring dangerous plays such as this in my opinion. Players need to be protected. Hagel has come back to earth a bit this year over all, if you can say that about a 79-point pace. Thus far, he’s been one of the steadier players on the Lightning this season, and is up to right around three shots per game. 

Tyler Seguin / Dallas Stars – Seguin underwent surgery to repair his ACL on Tuesday, and he has been ruled out for the remainder of the regular season, Sean Shapiro of DLLS Sports reports. Before going pointless in his last three games, Seguin turned back the clock with 10 points in seven games. Two of those points were courtesy of the powerplay, when Mikko Rantanen was out serving a suspension. Seguin has a career injury record longer than Santa's delivery list. Two identical hip surgeries, an Achilles, a concussion, and now a torn ACL. The man is a medical marvel. I wouldn’t bet against him returning at some point, but how long does he last? 

Will Smith / San Jose Sharks – Smith (undisclosed) was placed on injured reserve Monday, Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News reports. Smith has been enjoying a great sophomore season beside his sleepover buddy Macklin Celebrini, and has 29 points in 33 games so far. 

Sam Montembeault / Montreal Canadiens – Montembeault was loaned to AHL Laval on Tuesday for a conditioning assignment. With Jakub Dobes and now Jacob Fowler playing for the big club, the Canadiens are in quite the interesting situation. Carrying three goalies is quite rare in the NHL but until something changes with roster composition via a trade, they might be one of those rarities once Samuel is up and running smoothly. 

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!