2018 Fantasy Hockey Injury Report: November 27
Published: Nov 27, 2018
Welcome to the Fantasy Hockey Injury Report. Once a week, we’ll take a look at some injuries around the league that may affect your fantasy hockey team. Injuries will always happen and you can’t predict when, but it’s important to be ready for the aftermath and to have a plan ready. Let’s take a look and some players who are on the shelf for the upcoming week and beyond.
Antti Raanta - Arizona Coyotes - Goalie
Injury: unspecified, day-to-day.
Antti Raanta has already missed time this season due to injury and his status for tonight’s game is up in the air due to an “unspecified†injury. No one knows when the injury occured, but it’s enough to fantasy owners on the edge of their seats. With Darcy Kuemper already on IR due to a lower-body injury, this would be very bad timing for Raanta to miss any extended period of time. We should have more information after morning skate.
Carl Hagelin - Los Angeles Kings - Winger
Injury: MCL sprain, four-to-six weeks.
The Kings should just cancel their entire season. Newly acquired forward Car Hagelin has been ruled out four-to-six weeks with a knee injury. He wasn’t fantasy hockey relevant, but he’s another body on the shelf for a L.A team that has seen their fair share of injuries this season. It looks like Kyle Clifford will take his spot on the second line, but no one expects that experiment to last long.
Roberto Luongo - Florida Panthers - Goalie
Injury: lower-body, day-to-day.
Luongo has now missed three games in a row and we still don’t have much information about his injury or when he might return. He’s still listed on the team’s website as day-to-day, but if he doesn’t return soon, this could turn into a week-to-week injury. It hasn't been easy for Luongo owners in fantasy, but he’s still worth holding onto in all league formats. Maybe his age is starting to catch up to him, but for now, it’s best to take the “wait and see†approach about before considering dropping him.
Kyle Turris - Nashville Predators - Center
Injury: upper-body, out indefinitely.
Really tough blow for the Predators losing Kyle Turris for an extended period of the time. The centerman was put on IR late last week with an upper-body injury. Turris took a hard hit into the boards in Friday’s game against St. Louis and did not return. He now joins P.K Subban and Viktor Arvidsson on the injury reserved list, making his loss that much more impactful. Hopefully this isn’t a shoulder injury that requires surgery and that Turris can make a return sooner rather than later. If your fantasy league doesn’t have an IR spot, Turris is droppable in most shallow leagues.
Matt Murray - Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalie
Injury: lower-body, out indefinitely.
It has not been a great season for Matt Murray. The Pittsburgh netminder has an ugly 4.08 GAA and a .830SV% this season, so maybe this lower-body injury has something to do with that. The team has decided to give Murray some rest to see if that helps heal this mystery injury, but the team has said that they expect their starting goalie to be out “long-term.†For fantasy owners, this is a blessing. The 24-year-old is pretty much droppable in shallow leagues. It’s not ideal, but no one knows how many weeks he will miss due to this injury and how good he will be once he’s back. He has no trade value and he’s not worth clogging up an IR spot for multiple weeks. Maybe in deeper league you can hold onto him a bit longer, but that’s about as far as it goes.
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Panthers released TE Jordan Matthews.
Matthews converted to tight end a few years ago and hasn’t made much noise at the position. The change has, however, likely kept him in the league for a few more seasons. He appeared in four games with the Panthers last year but didn’t record any stats on offense. The Panthers also released or waived WR Dax Milne, C Andrew Raym, and TE Colin Granger.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.