NHL Injury Report Week 2: Valeri Nichuskin Out for the Colorado Avalanche
Welcome to another edition of the Fantasy Hockey Injury Report. Every week, we will break down some key injuries around the league and how they may affect your fantasy hockey team. It’s never easy to deal with the injury bug, but it doesn’t have to be the demise of your fantasy hockey team. Let’s take a look at who’s dealing with what this week!
NHL Injury Report: Week 2
Valeri Nichushkin - Colorado Avalanche- Lower-body
Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin is off to a smoking hot start, but he’s expected to be out of the lineup for at least one day due to a lower-body injury. He finished the last game against the New York Rangers without an issue, but clearly, something is bothering the Russian winger and a couple of days off may be all he needs. His status should be monitored entering next week.
Juraj Slafkovsky - Montreal Canadiens - Upper-body
Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky has missed the last three games due to an upper-body injury and there is still no timetable for his return. The 2022 first-overall pick only has one goal on the season, but the kid has the skill, and he can certainly find a home on the top line when he’s back to being healthy. Hopefully, we should get another status update before the end of the week.
Josh Norris - Ottawa Senators - Shoulder
Ottawa Senators forward Josh Norris is expected to miss a significant amount of time due to a shoulder injury. The fear is that he will require surgery, which would put an end to his season. It’s the second time in his young career that he’s had to deal with a shoulder injury, but let’s hope that he can make a return at some point this season. If you can’t stash him on IR, just go ahead and drop him.
Jake Guentzel - Pittsburgh Penguins - Upper-body
Jake Guentzel has missed the last three games due to an upper-body injury and there’s a chance that he misses his fourth straight game against the Vancouver Canucks. We don’t know how serious the injury is, but he was seen at practice on Thursday sporting a non-contact jersey. While that is encouraging news, the winger could still be 7-10 days away from making a return to the lineup. Look for him to get back into action at some point late next week.
Pavel Buchnevich - St. Louis Blues - Lower-body
Pavel Buchnevich played the first game of the season for the St. Louis Blues but has been unable to suit up for any games after that. He’s been placed on IR by the team, but he is eligible to return at any point. We don’t know the extent of the injury, but considering he hasn’t played hockey in almost two weeks, this could be something that required more time on the sidelines. For now, fantasy owners should just stash him away and wait for another update.
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Player News
Robbie Ray allowed three runs over six innings and struck out nine in the Giants’ 10-6 win over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.
Ray joined Max Fried as the only pitchers off to 6-0 starts thus far this season, and the Giants have gone 9-0 in his outings. His peripherals are significantly worse than his 3.04 ERA, but he’s definitely performed better in his last four starts than he did in his first five, when he seemed more lucky than good. He’ll pitch at home against the Royals next time out.
Brandon Pfaadt fell to 6-3 after giving up four runs in four innings Tuesday against the Giants.
All of the runs came on a Christian Koss homer in the second, though Pfaadt was still shaky over the rest of the outing. There is some mixed-league value here, but it’s a fine idea to bench him with a road start against the Dodgers coming up next.
Jung Hoo Lee went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer versus the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.
The homer off Joe Mantiply, which pretty much put away the game in the eighth, was Lee’s fifth of the year. He had come into this one hitting .250/.279/.327 over this previous 27 games.
Christian Koss’s first major leaguer homer was a grand slam off Brandon Pfaadt in Tuesday’s win over the D-backs.
Koss took an inside breaking ball just over the wall in left to homer in his 56th plate appearance as a major leaguer. He’s batting .241/.293/.296 while filling in at second base with Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmidt on the shelf. With both of those guys currently on rehab assignments, it’s possible Koss will be sent back to Triple-A soon.
Josh Naylor had a two-run homer and a two-run single against the Giants in Tuesday’s loss.
The homer off Spencer Bivens in the ninth was his first since Apr. 17, and Naylor had as many RBI tonight as in his previous 13 games combined. He has five homers and 27 RBI in 42 games on the season.
Jacob Wilson went 4-for-5 and hit his fourth and fifth homers Tuesday as the A’s crushed the Dodgers 11-1.
He was on base all five times up, as he also reached on an error. So much of Wilson’s contact is rather weak that it’s always unexpected when he muscles up and hits a ball 380 feet, but he’s definitely demonstrated that he’s capable. He’s up to .363/.389/.512 for the season after tonight. He has 58 hits, yet just 41 hard-hit balls. His barrel and homer totals are also equal, though the league as a whole has a little more than twice as many barrels as homers.