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. 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Arizona Coyotes - Defence

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

There has been no word as to what Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s lower-body injury might be, but it has kept him out of the lineup the last two games, and it isn’t a lock that he returns to the lineup on Thursday to face the Hurricanes. The Coyotes’ captain is still listed as day-to-day, but fantasy owners are starting to wonder if this injury is more serious than originally reported. Let’s hope he can make a return to the lineup before the start of the weekend.

Rasmus Dahlin - Buffalo Sabres - Defence

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

Sabres superstar defenceman Rasmus Dahlin is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and there is no timetable for his return. Head coach Ralph Krueger did say that the defenceman suffered a minor setback, but it’s enough to leave his status for Thursday’s game against Detroit as questionable. He was on the ice for practice, but only briefly. The team might want to play it safe with their young defenceman, so don’t be surprised if he’s out until the weekend.

Mark Giordano - Calgary Flames - Defence

Injury: hamstring, day-to-day.

Defencemen have been falling like flies over the last week. Flames captain Mark Giordano left Tuesday’s game due to a hamstring injury and did not return. Fantasy owners are still waiting for the MRI results to be made public, but at first glance, it doesn’t look good. Giordano wasn’t at practice on Wednesday, and we can expect him not to be ready to play on Thursday. It’s been a tough season for the former Norris Trophy winner, and should he be forced to miss a number of weeks due to this injury, he can be dropped in redraft leagues. 

Aleksander Barkov - Florida Panthers - Center

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

Aleksander Barkov hasn’t skated since Saturday and has missed the last two games as he deals with a lower-body injury. The hope is that he will be ready to return to the lineup on Thursday against the Golden Knights, but that looks like a longshot. If he isn’t on the ice Thursday morning, he may be forced to miss a third game. The injury doesn’t seem serious, but you don’t want this to linger down the stretch.

 

Frederik Andersen - Toronto Maple Leafs - Goalie

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

It’s never a good thing when your number one goalie goes down due to injury, but it’s even worse when it’s the Leafs’ starting goalie. Frederik Andersen left Monday’s game after the first period and he wasn’t available to back up on Wednesday night. If Andersen is forced to miss a significant amount of time, this could mean the end of Toronto’s playoff chances. Fantasy owners are hoping that he won’t require a stint on the IR, but there is still so much information we don’t know. Toronto’s next game is on Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks.