Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening! 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. At the end of the article is the Quarantine section, where any players out due to illness will be listed. As always, I’d like to thank every single one of you for reading. So, on to the bad (and some good) news.

Injuries / Leaves

Jack Hughes / New Jersey Devils – Hughes (lower body) did not play against Ottawa on Saturday. Hughes left the Devils' game against the Predators on Thursday during the first period. He came back out for the second and took one shift before leaving for good.

Only five players on the Devils have played in the full 55 games their team has had this season. Hughes missing significant time every year seriously hurts their chances of doing anything significant, and 2022-23 was their best season by far finishing with 112 points. No big surprise when you look a bit closer that he was present for 78 of 82 games. Since that season though, he’s played in 62 and 62 respectively and now that Hughes is on pace for even less than that this year, New Jersey is almost already out of the playoff race.

Martin Necas / Colorado Avalanche – Necas (lower body) did not play against Detroit on Saturday and is labelled as day to day. Missing Necas somehow helped the Avalanche win just their second game in the past six in front of a shutout performance from Mackenzie Blackwood. Necas is clipping along happily at his best career PTS/G pace with 1.19 PTS/GP and 98 over a full season, which has his owners from his Carolina days clapping and drooling at the same time having their patience paid back with interest. Nearly 72 percent of power play time with MacKinnon and Makar can do that for a player.

Victor Hedman / Tampa Bay Lightning – Hedman (elbow) is likely to make his return for the Stadium Series game on Sunday versus Boston, per Benjamin Pierce of the Lightning’s official site. One sign of that is that Hedman has been officially removed from IR. Hedman hasn't seen the ice in a game since December 9 against Montreal, and I don't think he's going to be coming back to monster minutes right away. He has been usurped on the powerplay by Darren Raddysh, who is an AHL journeyman turned man on a mission having 17 power-play points already amidst his 47 points in 46 games so far. 

Brad Marchand / Florida Panthers – Marchand (undisclosed) missed Saturday’s game versus Winnipeg. He is listed as day to day. Brad left the Panthers' game on Thursday and did not return. Marchand also missed three games a few weeks ago in early to mid-January, and after coming back for the Panthers' last four, he's out again.

Not great news for the team, as Marchand is nearly their leading scorer this season, a few points behind Sam Reinhart while pacing at over a point per game for the first time since 2018-19. With Tkachuk returning recently, it hurts a bit less as well as Aleksander Barkov being seen skating recently on his own. Barkov is still far from a return though, healing from reconstructive knee surgery performed just three months ago.

Troy Terry / Anaheim Ducks – Terry (upper body) is likely to play Sunday versus Vegas, per Derek Lee of The Hockey News. Terry has been out of the lineup since January 6 and before he went down, he has posted seven points in his last five games. He's pacing at a career best 0.98 PTS/G, and everything under the hood looks good enough for him to keep it up. Leo Carlsson owners will hope that his return to the lineup will see them back together and buzzing once Carlsson returns from his own injury, having put up only two points in 11 games before said knock.

Robert Thomas / St. Louis Blues – Thomas underwent a minor leg procedure Friday and is expected to play in the Blues’ first game after the Olympic break, which is February 26 versus the Kraken, Alex Ferrario of 101 ESPN St. Louis reports.

Not the first time I've droned on about how disappointing this season has been for pretty much every Blues player, but there's really not much else to say about the group. Thomas leads them in points with 33 in 41 games played, and Justin Faulk has as many points as Jordan Kyrou at 27. They've had no shortage of injuries; this is true but dismal regardless. From goaltending up, putrid is the first word that comes to mind.

Logan Thompson / Washington Capitals – Thompson (upper body) was unavailable for Saturday’s home game against Carolina. Washington has taken a huge hit in goal this week, losing both their starter and back up Charlie Lindgren.

Thompson has had another great year so far, going 18-16-4 with a 0.912 SV% and a 2.46 GAA. He's managed 27 QS in the 38 games played as well, which is pretty damn good (about 71%), and already matches his total from last season. This is all well and good, but he also carries a 28.88 GSAx currently as well. Elite stuff from the fella, and he has more than earned the right to at least feature for Canada in the upcoming February Milan Olympics, should he be healthy enough.

Charlie Lindgren / Washington Capitals – Lindgren (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Saturday. Lindgren has been a solid spot start off of waivers in the past two seasons, but it seems those days may be coming to an end as you can't be sure what side of him you'll get on any given night. He's still winning the majority of the games he starts, but his save percentages, QS, and GSAx leave a ton to be desired. With the absence of both the Capitals goalies, Clay Stevenson got the call last game, and he was backed up by Garin Bjorklund. Both are struggling a little bit in AHL Hershey so far this season.

Quarantine

Sean Monahan / CBJ, Jonathan Drouin / NYI, Nico Hischier / NJD

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!