Good morning, good afternoon, good evening everyone. Welcome back to the Injury Ward. My name is Logan Clarkson and every Wednesday and Sunday I will be chauffeuring 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.

Roope Hintz / Dallas Stars – Hintz (undisclosed) sustained an injury in the third period of Saturday’s game versus the Hurricanes and is undergoing further evaluation, Sam Nestler of DLLS Stars reports. Hintz was not in the lineup for Sunday's game against Nashville.

Hintz was about to curl up ice in the corner after retrieving a loose puck but he never made it out. Taylor Hall steamed in and pasted him into the boards quite hard, resulting in Hintz staying down on the ice for a little bit before he exited the ice and ultimately, the game.

Roope has dealt with a smorgasbord of injuries in his tenure so far, but has been pleasantly productive when healthy having not one full season in the last five under 0.81 points per game. On the floor side of the coin, he has not reached the 82-game mark well… ever. Oh, the perils of large, angry men trying to destroy you night in and night out!

Zach Hyman / Edmonton Oilers – Head coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday that Hyman (wrist) is targeting a return around November 1, Tom Gazzola of Edmonton Sports Talk reports. Hyman will be a welcome return to an Edmonton team that has struggled mightily early on this season.

Knoblauch has had a Vitamix strapped to each hand for every game this year and has had 21 different line combinations in the first eight games. Hyman will take back his spot on the top power play (which is underperforming) from one of a handful new FA additions and last year’s Swedish Elite League top scorer David Tomasek. Tomasek has been an effective player for the Oilers so far considering the minimal acquisition cost.

Stan Bowman, the new Oilers general manager (good riddance Ken Holland) also managed to sign the top scorer from the Finnish league in 2024-25, who happened to be a defenseman by the name of Atro Lepannën, who is starting to get the hang of things in Bakersfield, Edmonton’s AHL affiliate. It’s a good plan to scoop up all the top point getters from Europe for free on minimal contracts. It gives these guys a shot and a good payday, and it gives the Oilers some much needed skill and depth on the roster.

Bowman understands this importance clearly and has shown it, first in his time with Chicago by dealing Dustin Byfuglien (By-foog-lien for a good spelling mnemonic) after their first cup win, and many times after, before the proverbial sheet hit the fan there. That is not to downplay or condone the issues that arose there, and are still sadly too often present in our everyday lives. Reach out to those in need my friends.

Robert Thomas / St. Louis Blues – Thomas (upper body) suffered an injury during St. Louis’ 6-4 loss to Detroit, per Alex Ferrario of 101 ESPN. Thomas has had a slow start this season, along with the rest of his teammates posting only one point in his first five games played. Since then, he has turned up the heat a bit with four assists in his last three contests.

William Nylander / Toronto Maple Leafs – Nylander (lower body) missed Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win against Buffalo because of his lower-body issue, Terry Koshan of The Toronto Sun reports. Wild Bill was apparently in the lineup until a few minutes before puck drop and was scratched very late, handcuffing many of his fantasy owners into a dead roster spot for the busy Saturday slate.

Joseph Woll / Toronto Maple Leafs – Woll (personal) has rejoined the Maple Leafs, and he’ll begin participating in on-ice activities to prepare for his eventual season debut, the team announced Friday. Great news for Joseph and the Maple Leafs as well considering they had their third- and fourth-string goalies playing and backing up on Saturday in their 4-3 OT win against the Buffalo Sabres. The win came courtesy of John Tavares via Matthew Knies.

I believe it’s possible Woll will be leaned on a little bit more than last year when he's ready for NHL action again. This is considering Anthony Stolarz has had a bit of a rough go lately with head coach Craig Berube citing fatigue after starting seven of the first nine. Stolarz struggles as of late have not been limited to between the pipes, as he has been under the Toronto Sports Network microscope for his comments about the team’s lack of scoring support. He might want a do over on that one, since the Leafs have actually upped their goals per game rate this year to 3.44 so far, up from 3.25 last year over a full season.

Roman Josi / Nashville Predators – Josi (upper body) is week-to-week, Brooks Bratten of the Predators’ official site reports Saturday. Extremely unlucky for Roman, who missed the final 29 games of the season last year while figuring out and getting treatment for postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Thankfully, the Predators have stated that the injury is not related to his ongoing health issue but rather something else. The injury still worries me a bit especially with it being week to week, but hopefully his pre-existing condition won’t slow down the recovery.

Rickard Rakell / Pittsburgh Penguins – As per the Penguins, Rakell is expected to miss the next 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery on his hand on Sunday morning. Rakell left Saturday's game against Columbus with the injury.

Rakell has had his two most games played in a season in the two prior to this season, with 70 and 73. The history beyond that is a bit concerning. After eight points in nine games so far in the 2025-26 campaign, he will be missed by a Penguins team who has found some resurgent production in Evgeni Malkin. Is Geno gunning hard for a deadline move and one more shot at glory? I would love to see him go to a contender as well as Sidney Crosby, but it’s a bit of a pipe dream so far for the latter and with the former it’s really up to him. It’s been said in the media that his family is for a move, but Sid the not so Kid will be harder to sway than that with his single team legacy in the balance. 

Dylan Strome / Washington Capitals – Strome (lower body) suffered an injury and didn’t return to Saturday’s clash against Ottawa.

Mikael Granlund / Anaheim Ducks – Granlund (lower body) left the Anaheim bench on Saturday in their 4-3 loss and did not return to the game. Mikael had amassed five points (two goals, three assists) in his last four games but the caveat there is that they all came in a five-point effort the last time out prior to his injury. He is now sitting at eight points in eight games, although he only skated six minutes before the injury this weekend.

K'Andre Miller / Carolina Hurricanes – Miller (lower body) is closer to day-to-day than having a long-term issue, Walt Ruff of the Hurricanes’ official site reports Saturday. Whatever that means! Hockey-isms are my favorite. Never to the point and rarely all that informative.

This one had the Hurricanes testing out a five-forward power play as mentioned in last night’s Ramblings by Ian Gooding. Always read the Ramblings articles for the most up to date news on anything fantasy related! The five forward power play has become far more common around the league, with lots of teams testing the waters last year and again this year. This contributes mighty negatively to the already thin pool of valuable defenseman in fantasy.

Jamie Benn / Dallas Stars – Benn (upper body) started skating individually Friday, Lia Assimakopoulos of The Dallas Morning News reports. This news comes as Benn is recovering from surgery due to a punctured lung. Benn is far past his prime years, so we can’t hope for much out of him anymore fantasy wise.

Colten Ellis / Buffalo Sabres – Ellis (back) is day-to-day due to tightness, Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News reports Saturday. Ellis had just won his first career NHL game in his first start in the bigs, surrendering only two goals on 31 shots faced and looking excellent while doing so. Life is just downright cruel sometimes for high level athletes.

Kaapo Kakko / Seattle Kraken – Kakko (hand) is day-to-day and remains on track for a return in early November, according to Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times on Saturday. Kakko is no stranger to missing games in his young career as he sat out 21 for New York in 2023-24 and also more importantly has already had wrist surgery in 2021-22, missing 31 games in the process. Add those big chunks of time missed to a smattering of short-lived injuries and the picture is not good, with his development reflecting this.

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!