Welcome to another edition of the Fantasy Hockey Injury Report. Every week, we will discuss 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!

 


Cale Makar - Colorado Avalanche - Lower-body

Cale Makar suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings and was unavailable for Monday’s game against Chicago. Makar has dealt with his fair share of injuries this season and the timing of this one for fantasy owners is brutal. Most leagues are starting the first round of the playoffs, so if the talented defenseman is forced to miss more than one game, it could have a major impact on them making it to the next round. For now, it doesn’t sound like anything serious, but we’ll have to wait for another update before Wednesday’s game. 


Sam Bennett - Florida Panthers - Undisclosed

Sam Bennett left yesterday’s game after playing 12 minutes due to an injury and was unable to return. The team had no update on his condition, so we don’t know how serious his injury is or how long he could be out of the lineup. With the Florida Panthers still very much in the hunt for a playoff spot, they need as many healthy bodies as possible to help make a push. We should get an update on Bennett at some point this week.


Roman Josi - Nashville Predators - Upper-body

The last seven days have not been kind to elite defensemen. Roman Josi left Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets in the first period and was unavailable for their next game against the Rangers. He is listed as day-to-day, so there is a chance that he can play as early as today against the Buffalo Sabres, but Nashville is nowhere near a playoff spot and they may not want to risk making the upper-body injury worse. We’ll see if he’s on the ice for warmups. 


John Carlson - Washington Capitals - Head **UPDATE**

The Washington Capitals still have an outside shot at making the playoffs and they could be getting some much-needed help this week. John Carlson has been out of the lineup since December due to a fractured skull, but he could make his return to the lineup as early as Thursday. This is good news for fantasy owners who are in the playoffs and who were able to stash him on IR. He’s an elite defenseman who can contribute offensively, so he will regain his spot on the top power play and hopefully pick up a few points.


Evgeny Kuznetsov - Washington Capitals - Upper-body

It’s not all unicorns and butterflies for the Washington Capitals. Evgeny Kuznetsov left Sunday’s game in the third period after taking a hard hit from Matt Dumba and was not at Monday’s optional practice. The team might have elected to give the Russian some much-needed rest rather than practice, so there’s no reason to be concerned, yet. The team has said that he is day-to-day, but that doesn’t mean that he will be ready to play Tuesday. We should get another update on his condition before puck drop.