Dobber's Band-Aid Boys – 2018 edition! Which players are at risk to hurt your fantasy team by missing games?
(With notes from Injury Ward writer Bren Des)
You've heard me talk about 'em. You've often wondered if I just pull them out of a hat (or perhaps, a certain body oriface). Nope. I get 'em off this list. A DobberHockey staple since 2005.
Definition of "Certified": The player is virtually guaranteed to miss games and is a significant risk to miss 12 or more.
Definition of "Trainee": The player has shown signs that he could become Certified. He is probably going to miss six or seven games in the coming season and has some risk of suffering an injury that will cost him 12 or more.
The rule of thumb – if you ever manage to acquire, accidentally or otherwise – a member of the executive committee or a Certified Band-Aid Boy, get them off your team when you can. Although they may have fantasy value, they are probably not worth the headache (no pun intended) if you can acquire a player of equal value who is not on this list. If you acquire any Certified Band-Aid Boy for the price of them as if they play 65 games, then that works – just don't overpay and expect a full season out of them.
If you acquire a Band-Aid Boy Trainee, then keeping this player should be okay…but too many of them on your team could (will?) be trouble. It is possible to go from "certified" back to "trainee", or from "trainee" right off of this list. But poolies need to see some stability in games played – often one healthy season isn't enough to clean the slate.
President, CEO – Kris Letang
Executive Vice President – Mike Green
Band-Aid Boy Hall of Fame
Mario Lemieux, Alexei Zhamnov, Eric Daze
Ziggy Palffy, Eric Lindros, Dominik Hasek
Peter Forsberg, Pavel Bure, Rick DiPietro
Peter Mueller, Sheldon Souray, Martin Havlat
Ales Hemsky, Joffrey Lupul
(Note – this is strictly for guidance in fantasy hockey. This list is not meant to belittle the seriousness of a player's injury problems, nor is it meant to punish a player for 'playing hard' and being a 'warrior' on the ice. It is what it is – a list of players who are at greater risk of missing games. "How" they miss those games matters little in fantasy hockey. In other words, this list is meant to be used as a tool to help your run your fantasy team, not to insult anyone)
Certified Band-Aid Boys:
| Aleksander Barkov | Jason Zucker | Ondrej Palat | ||
| Alex Galchenyuk | Jimmy Howard | Oscar Klefbom | ||
| Alexander Edler | John Gibson | Patric Hornqvist | ||
| Alexander Steen | Jonas Brodin | Patrick Eaves | ||
| Andrej Sekera | Josh Leivo | Paul Stastny | ||
| Artem Anisimov | Kevin Shattenkirk | Rick Nash | ||
| Bobby Ryan | Kris Letang | Robby Fabbri | ||
| Brandon Dubinsky | Kris Versteeg | Roberto Luongo | ||
| Brendan Gallagher | Kyle Okposo | Ryan Callahan | ||
| Bryan Little | Logan Couture | Ryan Ellis | ||
| Bryan Rust | Marian Gaborik | Ryan Kesler | ||
| Cam Fowler | Mark Stone | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | ||
| Colin Wilson | Martin Hanzal | Sami Vatanen | ||
| David Krejci | Mathieu Perreault | Sean Couturier | ||
| Dmitri Kulikov | Matt Beleskey | Semyon Varlamov | ||
| Erik Johnson | Michael Cammalleri | Sergei Bobrovsky | ||
| Evander Kane | Michael Del Zotto | Steven Stamkos | ||
| Evgeni Malkin | Michal Neuvirth | Sven Baertschi | ||
| Frank Vatrano | Mike Green | Taylor Hall | ||
| Jaden Schwartz | Mike Smith | Tomas Hertl | ||
| James Neal | Mikhail Grabovski | Tyler Ennis | ||
| James Reimer | Mikko Koivu | Tyler Johnson | ||
| Jared Spurgeon | Nick Bjugstad | Tyler Myers | ||
| Jaroslav Halak | Niklas Kronwall | Vladimir Sobotka | ||
| Jason Spezza | Olli Maatta | Zach Parise |
Band-Aid Boy Trainees:
| Alexander Wennberg | Erik Haula | Matt Murray | ||
| Andre Burakovsky | Hampus Lindholm | Matthew Tkachuk | ||
| Ben Bishop | Jack Eichel | Micheal Ferland | ||
| Brandon Sutter | Jeff Carter | Mika Zibanejad | ||
| Brock Boeser | Jonathan Bernier | Mikael Backlund | ||
| Cam Ward | Josh Anderson | Mikael Granlund | ||
| Carey Price | John Carlson | Nolan Patrick | ||
| Carl Hagelin | Joonas Donskoi | Patrick Maroon | ||
| Charlie McAvoy | Jonathan Drouin | Patrik Berglund | ||
| Chris Kreider | Jonathan Quick | Rickard Rakell | ||
| Chris Stewart | Jonathan Toews | Robin Lehner | ||
| Conor Sheary | Jordan Staal | Ryan Getzlaf | ||
| Corey Crawford | Kari Lehtonen | Ryan McDonagh | ||
| Craig Anderson | Kyle Palmieri | Sam Gagner | ||
| David Backes | Mark Giordano | TJ Oshie | ||
| David Perron | Mark Scheifele | Travis Zajac | ||
| Drew Stafford | Markus Granlund | Tyson Barrie |