Good morning, good afternoon, and happy new year's eve everyone. Welcome back to the Injury Ward. My name is Logan Clarkson and every Wednesday and Sunday I will be taking 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.

Adam Fox / New York Rangers – Fox (upper body) returned today in the Ranger's matinee game in Washington against the Capitals. Fox's impact on the Rangers cannot be understated. They've enjoyed only two regulation wins since Fox fell from the lineup on November 29th. Adam routinely logs 25+ minutes a game for the Rangers, and entering today’s game he had 26 points in 27 games played on the season with eight powerplay points and a shortie mixed in there. He's only played one full season of games in the last four, but hasn't played less than 72 in the same timeframe. He already has an assist through the first period today as this is posted.

William Nylander / Toronto Maple Leafs – Nylander (lower body) did not return to Saturday’s game against Ottawa after sustaining an injury. Willy has now missed time on three separate occasions in roughly the past month, twice due to injury and once for illness. It's only totalled up to six games so far, but hopefully that’s all he misses. He's the most important player on the ice at any given time for Toronto and they don't have a ton of guys performing that well on top of a swath of injuries that they're dealing with right now.

Jack Eichel / Vegas Golden Knights – Eichel (lower body) is going to be a game-time decision Wednesday against Nashville, according to SinBin Vegas. The Golden Knights will be extremely happy to have ol' iron neck back. Vegas is 7-8-7 when one of Jack Eichel or Mark Stone are out of the lineup. With them both in attendance? 10-1-4. The team has been holding their own just fine, being one point behind Edmonton with three games in hand for first spot in the Pacific but any help of the elite variety is always welcome. 

Connor Bedard / Chicago Blackhawks – Bedard (shoulder) still has no definitive timeline for his return. Blashill said he’ll get a better idea once Bedard is reevaluated in the New Year according to Tracey Myers of NHL.com. It's news, and it could be worse. The Blackhawks seem to be erring on the side of caution here, and it's thought that Bedard's return is going to have to coincide with him feeling 100 percent or near it. Bedard was left off of Canada's Milan Olympic roster upcoming in February, but that should probably make his fantasy owners happy since he's possibly not going to be feeling himself for the next while.

Auston Matthews / Toronto Maple Leafs – Matthews (lower body) is “fairly close” to returning to action, reports NHL.com. With the way the Leafs report on injuries, this could be season ending. Just kidding, he should be close to returning, but they are pretty brutal for reporting correctly especially when it comes to Auston Matthews. Matthews has been the point of a tidal wave of speculation within the center of the universe (Toronto), and it's all bad. Looking at his shooting stats like percentage and volume, it's increasingly obvious to me that he has possibly been struggling with feeling 100 percent after his prior wrist problems. He's had a few seasons shooting above 18 percent, and saw his second lowest season at 12.6% last year, now down to 11.8% for this current campaign. Hopefully not an indicator for slowing down over the rest of his career.

Zach Werenski / Columbus Blue Jackets – Werenski (foot/ankle) is said to be hopeful to return on Saturday. That's no guarantee, but it’s better than a kick in the pants. He was placed on IR Sunday. Thanks to the holiday break this week, Werenski has only missed three games so far due to the injury. Werenski continues to be ablaze this season with 10 points in his last 5 games and 19 points in the last 12. A 94-point pace this season for the fella. Impressive. 

Pyotr Kochetkov / Carolina Hurricanes – Kochetkov (hip) will undergo surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the campaign, Walt Ruff of the Hurricanes’ official site reports Monday. Terrible news for the Hurricanes and Pyotr, but it does solve an immediate problem for them as they've been running three NHL goaltenders for the last few weeks after Andersen returned. Kochetkov is 6-2-0, with a 0.893 SV% so far this season, and you can nearly pinpoint the moment his season went awry. November 4th to the 17th he was 4-0-0 before he missed time until December 7th. From then until the 20th, he went 2-2 but only had one gane with a save percentage above 0.857.

Ilya Sorokin / New York Islanders – Sorokin (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Saturday, retroactive to Dec. 20. The Islanders have been relying on David Rittich in his absence, and he's held the fort handsomely. That gives them some extra incentive to keep Ilya out for as long as he needs. I do expect him to be back before too long (within the next week), but he has had back issues in the past so it's entirely possible he misses more time than that.

Shayne Gostisbehere / Carolina Hurricanes – Gostisbehere (groin) missed Tuesday’s game against the Penguins, his second in a row and doesn't currently have a timeline for return although he was a gametime decision Tuesday so it doesn't seem like it’s going to be an extended absence unless something changes, and groins can be a weird injury. 

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!