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. 

Philipp Grubauer - Colorado Avalanche - Goalie

Injury: lower-body, unspecified.

If you were looking for a reduced injury report this week, you are in the wrong place. After a rash of injuries were mentioned last week, that number has been steady again this week, and there are some big names who will be on the shelf for an extended period of time. For Colorado, Philipp Grubauer is expected to miss some time due to a lower-body injury, but we still don’t know exactly how much. There has been no diagnosis since Saturday, and that has to start worrying some fantasy owners. He wasn’t at practice on Monday, and we can safely say that he won’t be available this week. Let’s hope that we get some good news that he won’t be forced to miss an extended period of time.

Mikko Rantanen - Colorado Avalanche - Winger

Injury: upper-body, multiple weeks.

It has not been a good 48-hours for the Colorado Avalanche. Already without their starting goalie, it looks like their talented winger will be out “multiple weeks” with an upper-body injury. Rantanen hurt himself on Saturday in the outdoor game when he fell into the boards shoulder first. The team hasn’t said what the injury is, but reports on twitter are talking about a broken collarbone, which would mean about a 6-8 week absence. That does fit the timeline that the Avalanche are saying, but we will wait for the team to give us more details. This is a huge blow for Colorado, who are still very much in the hunt for a playoff spot, and for fantasy owners. 

Brock Boeser - Vancouver Canucks - Winger

Injury: ribs, 8 weeks.

After acquiring Tyler Toffoli in a trade with the L.A. Kings, the Vancouver Canucks got some pretty disappointing news that Brock Boeser is expected to be out of the lineup for eight weeks due to a rib injury. The injury at first wasn’t expected to be serious, but that theory went out the winder pretty quick once tests confirmed that Boeser is dealing with a rib cartilage fracture. He’s going to be re-evaluated in three weeks, but injuries of this severity usually take a good eight weeks to heal. It’s very possible that he may be done for the regular season. If you can’t hold onto him in fantasy leagues, drop him and see what’s available on the waiver wire. 

Brendan Gallagher - Montreal Canadiens - Winger

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

After watching Shea Weber recover from a career threatening foot injury in just under a week, maybe the captain can pass on some of his superhuman strength to teammate Brendan Gallagher. The Habs forward is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and although it doesn’t seem serious, you know that Gallagher is going to try to play through anything. They may want to give him some extra time to rest, but the Habs are running out of time to try and make the playoffs, and every game becomes just that more important for them. If he does play, don’t consider him to be 100%, which means whatever is bothering him could end up being an issue down the road.

Jay Bouwmeester - St. Louis Blues - Defence

Injury: heart, out indefinitely.

I know Bouwmeester isn’t a fantasy hockey player most of you have on your team, but I felt like it was only right to give him a place in this week’s injury report. We almost forget just how anything can happen during a hockey game, and we certainly forget just how important the team doctors are until they literally save a players life. That was the case last week when Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench during their game against the Ducks. They were able to bring him back to life and the veteran defenceman is now resting at home. He had a procedure done to install an implantable cardioverter defibrillator to help regulate his heart rate. When he can return to the ice is anyone's guess, but it’s nice that we are talking about this story with a happy ending and not the other way around. 

Oscar Klefbom - Edmonton Oilers - Defence

Injury: shoulder, two-to-three weeks.

Already without their captain for the next few weeks, the Edmonton Oilers will be without one of their best defencemen for at least the next two weeks as he deals with a shoulder injury. Oscar Klefbom played just a tad under 31-minutes in their last game against Carolina, so it’s a shock to see him sidelined for an extended period of time. The team hasn’t given us much information, only that it’s a shoulder injury and that he’s going to miss about two-to-three weeks. Most fantasy owners can survive this small bump in the road, but let’s hope that he can get back on the ice sooner rather than later to help Edmonton keep up with their push to make the playoffs.