Injury Ward: Updates on Nylander, Eichel, Werenski, and More
Logan Clarkson
2025-12-28
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. Merry Christmas Eve and Happy holidays! Welcome back to the Injury Ward. My name is Logan Clarkson and every Wednesday and Sunday I will be sleighing 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.
William Nylander / Toronto Maple Leafs – Nylander (lower body) did not return to Saturday’s game against Ottawa after sustaining an injury. Willy had just managed to shake off the pointless outings with two goals and two assists just before the break, and scored again early on Saturday night before leaving the game with a possible ankle tweak. He is travelling with the team to New Jersey today so he’s still not ruled out for their clash.
Jack Eichel / Vegas Golden Knights – Eichel (lower body) missed his fifth game in a row last night when the Golden Knights lost a heartbreaker to none other than league leader Colorado. Jack has only gone pointless in eight of his 31 games played this season to date, totalling 41 points in those games.
Zach Werenski / Columbus Blue Jackets – Werenski (foot/ankle) will not play against the Islanders on Sunday, Jeff Svoboda of the Blue Jackets’ official site reports. He was placed on IR Sunday. Thanks to the holiday break this week, Werenski has only missed one game so far due to his injury. That’s set to change on Sunday, and will bleed into their game on Monday in Ottawa too. Werenski continues to be ablaze this season with 10 points in his last 5 games and 19 points in the last 12. A 94-point pace this season for the fella. Impressive.
Patrick Kane / Detroit Red Wings – Kane (upper body) has been a useful fantasy player this year for the first time in a while now with 23 points in 24 games. He has missed six games in a row now, however, and that may continue. Kane's impact has been noticeable for Detroit at 5v5 over the last while with them struggling to score when he is out of the lineup. He’s also sitting at ninth in the NHL over the past year for P/60, surprisingly. Patrick might be a game-time decision tonight (Sunday) against Toronto at home.
Ilya Sorokin / New York Islanders – Sorokin (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Saturday, retroactive to December 20. The Islanders have the second half of a back to back tonight and it looks like David Rittich might just get to handle the rare twofer. Sorokin was 12-10-2 before the injury with a 0.909 SV%.
K’Andre Miller / Carolina Hurricanes – This is Miller's third time missing games so far in 2025-26. He started the year off quite well for himself with eight points in his first 14 games. He’s since tapered off a bit, with his powerplay time dwindling due to Gostisbehere's dominance in that role.
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!