Latest injury news on the likes of Landeskog, Hall, Steen, Toews, Lehner and many others

Hey folks, it’s with a heavy heart that I let you know that this’ll be my last article up here. Life is taking me in another direction, but it can lead YOU to this very column! Check out the Black Aces section in the forum and post your own hockey ramblings! Just 700-1200 words is all you need for a shot at your own column. Anyways, here’s my last shot at delivering the bad news.

The Big Guns (>80% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Taylor Hall – New Jersey’s newest big name acquisition is getting ready to suit up way ahead of schedule. Look for him to be back in the lineup as early as tomorrow. He’s picked a great time to return, too, as teammate Mike Cammalleri is wielding a hot stick. He’s got four goals and eight points in his last four games, so all Hallsy has to do is hit him with a cross-ice feed to get back on the scoresheet himself.

Gabriel Landeskog – Colorado’s captain is continuing to miss time with a mystery lower-body injury. Last night’s game makes it six in a row now as the Avalanche got spanked, 5-3. He’s still day-to-day.

Patric Hornqvist – The Pen’s top PP pest will likely return tonight, as he’s been practicing on the No.1 power-play unit. This can only mean good things for a few Pens players who have been slightly slumping lately, like Kris Letang, who only has one point in his last five games.

Alexander Steen – Steen’s upper-body injury has kept him on day-to-day status since November 15, but he’s been skating and looking good lately. It might be another week before he’s ready and Ken Hitchcock has no reason to bring him back before that. The Blues are 5-1 in his absence.

James Neal – Neal left Friday’s game and is now reportedly dealing with an upper-body injury. The Predators placed him on the injured reserve and he’ll be eligible to return on Monday.

Jonathan Toews – The Hawks will likely be missing their captain on Thursday when they play New Jersey. It’ll make four straight games missed for Toews, who has an upper-body injury and is day-to-day.

TJ Oshie – Oshie’s practising again, but not taking contact as he recovers from an upper-body injury. As the President’s Trophy winners from last season, The Capitals likely don’t need him back sooner than he’s ready, and he doesn’t was to come back early if he’s going to “affect the outcome of the game negatively for the team”.

The Second Liners (50%-80% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Zdeno Chara – Chara left last night’s game after taking a hit in the corner from St. Louis’s Jaden Schwartz. It’s maybe the reason why he has a lower-body injury now, and won’t travel with the Bruins to Ottawa. Check back on his status on Friday ahead of the game versus Calgary for an update.

Bobby Ryan – Check back on Ryan’s status later today, but he aggravated his hand injury from last week and had to leave the Sens game last night. Consider him day-to-day.

Chris Kunitz – Kunitz has been getting back into practises, but won’t return tonight with Hornqvist. He will find his spot on the Malkin line when he does, so don’t delay in getting him back in your lineup when he does return.

Tomas Hertl – Hertl remains week-to-week as he recovers from his third right knee injury in four years. Tough break for a kid that looked like he had so much promise.

Matt Niskanen – Absent from Monday’s practise was Matt Niskanen, who is being held out with a lower-body injury. He’s day-to-day until further evaluation.

Jimmy Howard – A goalie’s worst nightmare. No, not Connor McDavid on a breakaway – a groin injury. Howard didn’t last a period on Friday before the injury struck. Groin injuries can be a chronic problem and in this case it certainly is. He’s on the injured reserve now, so don’t expect him back until at least Tuesday.

Robin Lehner – Lehner’s looking more and more injury prone as his career goes on. He’s currently out with a hip injury. See if you can figure out when it happened, because I’m stumped. You can’t fix brittle, folks. And it’s not like Buffalo’s gonna haul in the wins this season anyway.

This is where Lehner got injured, look at his left leg. pic.twitter.com/CMWaqU8Ivy

— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) November 30, 2016

The Depth Guys (20%-50% owned in Yahoo Leagues)

Anton Stralman – Stralman’s really close, to the point where he might’ve been able to return last night. Alas, it was not to be, and the Lightning got put down by the Blue Jackets, of all teams. He’s missed nine games so far, but might be back in before that hits double digits.

Ryan Ellis – Ellis is on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury, so the earliest he’ll be able to return is December 6.

Brandon Manning – Manning is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. The Flyers are fighting for a playoff spot and Manning’s injury isn’t helping much.

As always, thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter for more frequent injury updates and general hockey-related tomfoolery! @AjayDaCosta, in case that address bar is too far away.