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. Now, on to the bad (and some good) news.

Injuries / Leaves

Jack Hughes / New Jersey Devils – Hughes (lower body) is expected to miss Thursday's game against the Islanders now. Hughes is not expected to miss the Milan Olympics as of now, though. As good as Jack Hughes is, he's only as good as the games he plays, which are thinning out. I don't want to be hard on a player for being often injured because I’m sure they're the one person who wants to be on the ice more than any fan wants them to be, but it's hard to watch nonetheless. In the past four seasons, Jack has seen his PTS/G fall steadily from 1.27 down to an even 1.00 this year. His highest point totals and rates came in 2022-23, when he played nearly a full season and this also coincided with the Devil's best season in a long time. He is extremely important to them.

Brayden Point / Tampa Bay Lightning – Point (lower-body) was a full participant in practice on Wednesday and is considered day to day. Point will not, however, be available for the Lightning's game against the Panthers on Thursday. Likely back following the Olympic break, giving him a good two and a half weeks to further recover and get back into game shape, that is, unless he still expects to travel to Milan to play with Team Canada. Point had a slow start to the season, and I speculated that he may have been playing with some sort of wrist or upper body injury since his shooting rates were way down, and his shooting percentage was ghastly compared to career numbers. He turned it on a bit after returning for a bit of a break before getting chopped down at the knees for his most recent injury. Hopefully this rest has only furthered the healing of the rest of his knocks.

Adam Fox / New York Rangers – Fox (undisclosed) was a full participant in practice on Wednesday. It's still unknown if Fox will be ready to go for the Ranger's last game before the Olympic break against the Flyers. Fox is the heartbeat of this team, and he has 28 points in 30 games. The next closest defenseman is Vladislav Gavrikov, coming in at 21 points in 56 games. They desperately need him back, and with Artemi Panarin already with both feet out the door (I hate that they are resting him), it’s even more glaring. Fans are not happy in New York to say the least.

Artemi Panarin / Los Angeles Kings – Panarin (roster management) should be able to suit up with the Kings after the Olympic break. He was held out for a trade over the last two weeks, and that move came to fruition on Wednesday. This is probably not one of the better landing spots for his fantasy value, on a power play that will likely comprise of Brandt Clarke, Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, and either Quinton Byfield or Anze Kopitar as a center.

Logan Thompson / Washington Capitals – Thompson (upper body) is targeting a return for Thursday’s game against Nashville. Thompson is possibly Team Canada's first string goalie at the Olympics with Jordan Binnington having the worst season of his career so far. Thompson has 27 QS so far in 38 games played in 2025-26. He's doing the job the Capitals' need him to do while he's in the lineup. Clay Stevenson has been getting the starts with both Thompson and Lindgren sidelined, and he’s gone 2-1-0, with a 0.904 SV% and a 2.33 GAA.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen / Buffalo Sabres – Luukkonen (lower body) is now set to miss the Milan Olympics for team Finland. A devastating blow to a player who was ramping up his game in the lead up to the tournament. Luckily for Buffalo, they have Alex Lyon who is red hot, and Colten Ellis to pick up the slack nicely. 

Martin Necas / Colorado Avalanche -Necas (lower-body) will miss another game, which is against San Jose on Wednesday, but he is expected to be good for the Olympics. 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. 98 over a full season 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.

Brad Marchand / Florida Panthers – Marchand (undisclosed) missed Saturday’s game versus Winnipeg, and will be missing tonight’s game against the Bruins, with no indication as of yet that he will return for their game on Thursday either. He is listed as day to day. Brad left the Panther's 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 Panther's 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.

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 Feb. 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 it’s still been dismal regardless. From goaltending up, putrid is the first word that comes to mind.

Kiefer Sherwood / San Jose Sharks – Sherwood (undisclosed) will make his San Jose debut in Colorado on Wednesday. Sherwood was injured on top of having to sort out working visa issues for the past few weeks but it appears all is cleaned up and he's ready to go tonight. It will be interesting to see if he continues clocking nearly five hits per game while playing on the top line with serious skill, the skill being Celebrini and Smith, or if he'll give his shoulders a rest and try to become a legitimate scorer. If he somehow does both, and sticks on that top line his value will go through the roof. Might be a good buy low (maybe not low) candidate before the games tonight.

Zach Benson / Buffalo Sabres – Benson (upper body) was out for Buffalo's game on Tuesday against the Lightning, and there has been no updates on the severity of the injury as of yet. Benson is taking a step forward this season, playing at all strengths (not new), but he's seeing an extra two minutes of ice time and he's been rewarding his coach with a 51 point pace over a full season. He may not be putting up gaudy numbers like fans would like, but he's making progress and that’s all you can really ask of a young, pint sized skill player in his third full season in the pros.

Quarantine

Kirill Marchenko  / CBJ, Jesper Wallstedt / MIN, Marcus Foligno / MIN, Connor Garland / VAN, 

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!