Welcome to another edition of the Fantasy Hockey Injury Report. The season is now in full swing, and so are the injuries. You can’t avoid them, but we can get a head start and plan around them. The injury report will be out every week to help you plan the rest of your fantasy hockey week. Let’s take a look at which key players are dealing with injuries. 

Tuukka Rask - Boston Bruins - Goalie

Injury: concussion, out indefinitely.

The Boston Bruins may be without their starting goalie for the foreseeable future due to a concussion. The Finnish netminder took an elbow to the head from Blue Jackets forward Emil Bemstrom and did not return to the game. Concussion don’t have a specific recovery timetable, so fantasy owners will have to take a wait and see approach as to when Rask may be ready to return. 

Morgan Rielly - Toronto Maple Leafs - Defence

Injury: foot, eight weeks.

Already without the services of Jake Muzzin, the Leafs will be without Morgan Reilly for a minimum of eight weeks due to a fractured foot. Toronto is going to be without two of their top three defencemen for the forseable future, so they could start looking externally to acquire some help. Rielly was having a difficult season, and this injury almost puts him out for the rest of the season. Fantasy owners in non keeper leagues may want to simply drop him, seeing as he will only return for the playoffs, and some teams may not be able to hold onto him for that long. If you can stash him on IR, do so, but don’t sacrifice dropping a serviceable player to hold onto Rielly. 

Sergei Bobrovsky - Florida Panthers - Goalie

Injury: upper-body, day-to-day.

The injury status surrounding Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t clear, but the Panthers could be without him for the remainder of the week. He’s played only one game since January 5th, and Chris Driedger has been very good this season in a relief role. Florida may want to play it safe with their star goalie, and that could mean keeping him out of the lineup until he is fully healthy. Bobrovsky has been #NotGood this season, so many some time off the ice to heal will do him some good.

Brendan Gallagher - Montreal Canadiens - Winger

Injury: concussion, day-to-day.

We can expect the Montreal Canadiens to play it extra safe with Gallagher after everything that transpired last week. He was out of the lineup since January 2nd due to a concussion, but returned to the lineup on January 9th. It was reported the next day that Gallagher was experiencing some headaches, so he was shut down again and hasn’t returned to action since. It’s mind boggling that a team would not be 100% sure before giving a player the green light to return, and you can expect them to not make that same mistake twice. There’s a chance he returns before the end of the week, but don’t hold your breath on it.

 

Carter Hart - Philadelphia Flyers - Goalie

Injury: abdominal strain, two-to-three weeks.

Goalie number three to hit the injury list is Carter Hart, who is expected to be out of the lineup two-to-three weeks due to an abdominal strain. This is a huge blow to the team and to fantasy owners. Hart hasn’t been great this year, but Brian Elliott has been even worse. The veteran goalie has a 3.16 GAA to go along with a disappointing .896 SV%. Some fantasy owners will run to add Elliott, but in all honesty, he’s trash, and it may not take long before Alex Lyon gets a shot to lead the team while Hart is out. If you are looking for a goalie to add off the waiver wire, Lyon is the way to go.