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

Roope Hintz / Dallas Stars – Hintz (lower body) is doubtful for Game four against Minnesota on Saturday, Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports reports. Hintz has missed 23 games in a row now, including the first two games of their series with Minnesota. Having played only 53 games this season for the Stars, this comes as no big surprise. With 44 points through those 53 games, he was pacing just below his totals last season, and well below his career best of 1.05 PTS/GP. The Stars will hope to have him back at some point these playoffs, especially if they manage to take down the Wild, which will be a tough task given how good they've been throughout the season after acquiring Quinn Hughes.

Yakov Trenin / Minnesota Wild – Trenin (upper body) was ruled out for the remainder of Monday’s Game two in Dallas after taking a bit of an unaliving pass and being flattened like a cheap bald tire in open ice by Colin Blackwell. Trenin was an amazing waiver player this season if you are in a league that counts hits. He had 404(!) hits in a full 82 game season, good for 4.93 HITS/GP. Just a ridiculous stat. He only managed 23 points over those 82 games, so his usefulness is limited in that respect, but holy cow I don't understand how you can throw the body that often, and not miss a single game all season up until now.

Mats Zuccarello / Minnesota Wild – Zuccarello was unavailable for Game two in Dallas on Monday due to an upper-body injury. Zuccarello has long been one of my favorite under the radar point producers in NHL fantasy. With 54 points in 59 games, it was his best point pace in five seasons, since he posted 79 in 70 in the 2021-22 season. Before he took an elbow to the head on his way by Tyler Myers (only received a two minute minor for elbowing) after taking a shot on net, he left the game and did not return, missing last night’s tilt in game two as well. Zuccarello had three points in game one before he exited due to the injury, and he will now miss his second playoff game in game three tonight.

Adam Henrique / Edmonton Oilers – Henrique (lower body) will not be an option for game two against the Ducks on Wednesday, Chris Johnston of The Athletic reports. Henrique ran into a teammate in Game one on Monday, and left the game without returning. He's now out for game two, replaced by the young German rookie Josh Samanski. Jason Dickinson is also a game time decision, after returning to the lineup for game one and potting two goals on the road to victory.

Victor Hedman / Tampa Bay Lightning – Hedman (personal) is expected to travel with the Lightning to Montreal ahead of Friday’s Game three against the Canadiens, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reports, although John Cooper has said that they don't expect him to play this round. Hedman missed the last seven regular season contests for the Lightning, he will be itching to get back out there as soon as he can. He's seemingly "over the hill" as they say, with only 17 points in 33 games played, notably losing the top power play to the likes of the season long red hot Darren Raddysh.

Rasmus Sandin / Washington Capitals – Sandin underwent right knee surgery Tuesday for a torn ACL. Sandin is not a very notable player for fantasy purposes these days, but news is thin during playoffs, even if guys are getting injured more often, they're regularly hidden from public view. Sandin has never hit a half point per game marker in any season of his career, and only managed 0.40 PTS/GP this year in 73 games played. 

Quarantine / Healthy Scratches

N/A

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