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.
Scott Wedgewood / Colorado Avalanche – Wedgewood’s (back) tightened up on him, and that’s the reason he was pulled from Tuesday’s game versus the Canucks, Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now reports. Wedgewood has been phenomenal this season. He’s gone 13-3-1 in his first 16 starts, and should have gotten the win last night too after leaving the game with a 3-1 lead over the Vancouver Canucks. He’s also posted a 0.920 save percentage so far this year. Back tightness is hopefully all it is because this man has been carrying fantasy rosters since the beginning of the season. He has started to split starts with Mackenzie Blackwood though, who was injured to start the season and made his first start on November the 1st. Blackwood has been slightly better over seven games with a 6-0-1 record and a 0.930 save percentage himself. Colorado is on pace to beat the single season point record.
Brayden Point / Tampa Bay Lightning – Point (undisclosed) doesn’t have a timetable for his return to the lineup, according to Lightning reporter Gabby Shirley on Monday. That is not good news on Point who I pointed out last week has a meagre shooting percentage compared to the rest of his career. He’s probably been dealing with this injury all season and it’s probably best he takes the time to heal since he’s been quite ineffective even when the rest of the lineup is contributing. Point has three tallies and eight helpers for a total of 11 points in 21 games played.
Tyler Seguin / Dallas Stars – Seguin injured his ACL in Tuesday’s contest, and as a result he may be done for the season. The Stars are awaiting further tests, so keep an eye out for updates. If surgery is required then it’s likely at least a nine month recovery period.
Adam Fox / New York Rangers – Fox (upper body) was placed on long-term injured reserve Sunday, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com. Brutal news in New York as well given that Adam Fox really makes that team tick. As I mentioned on Sunday, the Rangers may go with a five forward powerplay and they did end up doing that on Tuesday. The unit only has four shots on goal in 6:21 of powerplay time and gave up two themselves so it may not last all that long. Fox owners are already missing him dearly since he went out in a blaze totalling 10 points in his last six games before the injury.
Thatcher Demko / Vancouver Canucks – The Canucks announced Monday that Demko (lower body) hasn’t yet traveled with the team, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. I absolutely hate that Demko cannot manage to stay healthy because when he is playing, he is usually lights out. He is probably the second best player in Vancouver, and maybe a hair less important than Quinn Hughes but one could argue they both matter the same to this teams success. Thankfully for the Canucks, Kevin Lankinen‘s leave of absence was a short one because they were about to be in one without him, and he stood in his head Tuesday night against Colorado in their eventual 3-1 loss. One thing is for certain, I don’t trust a lick of what GM Patrik Alvin says about injured players, considering he’s given conflicting information a few times already this season.
Jimmy Snuggerud / St. Louis Blues – Snuggerud (wrist) will undergo surgery for a left wrist injury that will sideline him for at least six weeks. Per the Blues’ announcement, Snuggerud has also been placed on injured reserve. Jimmy started the season with 11 points in 19 games, pretty good for a rookie on a team that has been struggling since the gates opened. He’s spent most of his time on a line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. Meanwhile, Thomas only has 17 points through 23 games which is on pace for his lowest points per game since the 2020-21 season.
Mikael Granlund / Anaheim Ducks – Granlund (lower body) appears to be about a week away from returning. The Ducks noted that Granlund could return by the end of the current homestand (which ends Sunday December 9th), and if not, then soon after. Granlund was showing well in the top-six before his injury, but he’s returning to a healthier lineup which has been humming along lately, so his deployment will be worth monitoring.
Petr Mrazek / Anaheim Ducks – Mrazek (lower body) was deemed day-to-day Monday, according to Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune. Petr Mrazek took over for Lukas Dostal after injury, and Ville Husso took over for Mrazek this week when he was felled not long after Dostal. Ville has gone 2-1-0 so far whilst doing so, but has looked good in only one of those starts which was Monday night against the floundering Blues.
Brandon Montour / Seattle Kraken – Montour (undisclosed) is day-to-day ahead of Thursday’s game against Edmonton, according to Emerald City Hockey on Tuesday. It’s become increasingly apparent that Brandon’s 73 point and 0.91 point per game season in 2022-23 was certainly the outlier in his career, if it wasn’t obvious before. Looking back before his career year, the crown jewel of his performances was a 0.46 point per game pace. I had some hope for him at least getting close in the year that followed his good performance and I drafted him. I was abruptly turned upside down and shaken by the ankles by every opponent I faced, leaving weekly matchups without even my pocket left. A shoulder injury early on definitely didn’t help, and now playing on a team that loves to spread the minutes around has him pretty well barred from reaching those big shiny totals again. He’s up to a 50 point pace so far this season, which is not terrible but I wouldn’t want to have him as one of my top three defenseman on a winning roster, that much is certain. If you’re in need of a waiver defenseman, I would take a gander for Darren Raddysh, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Pavel Mintyukov and Simon Nemec to name a few who may be available depending on your league cats.
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!