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.
Kris Letang - Pittsburgh Penguins - Defence
Injury: upper-body, day-to-day.
You can count on three things in life-- death, taxes and Kris Letang being injured. The veteran defenceman is questionable to play Friday against the Predators due to an upper-body injury. It doesn’t sound like a serious injury, but most fantasy hockey owners are fighting for a spot in the finals next week, so there’s no time to wait around to see if Letang will suit up. If we don’t get a confirmation by Thursday night that he’s ready to play, drop him. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Ryan Getzlaf - Anaheim Ducks - Center
Injury: upper-body, day-to-day.
Ducks’ captain Ryan Getzlaf has missed the last two games due to an upper-body injury and his status for Friday’s game against Calgary is still up in the air. At this point in the season, Getzlaf can be dropped. The Ducks aren’t a great team, and even if the veteran forward does play, how productive will he really be? If he’s on your bench taking up a spot, you can move on from him and look for a better option. It’s been a season to forget for both the Ducks and Getzlaf.
Zach Parise - Minnesota Wild - Winger
Injury: lower-body, day-to-day.
Minnesota forward Zach Parise mas missed the last two games due to a lower-body injury and his status for Friday’s game against the Golden Knights is still uncertain. The 34-year-old could make a return this week, but that is still far from being certain. As much as fantasy owners may want to drop him, the Minnesota Wild are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, so they have something to play for. If Parise is relatively healthy, there’s a good chance that he plays Friday. If he doesn’t get the green light to return to action by Saturday night, then we can move on from him and look for help on the waiver wire.
Mikko Rantanen - Colorado Avalanche - Winger
Injury: upper-body, day-to-day.
Already without the services of captain Gabriel Landeskog, the Colorado Avalanche have been without winger Mikko Rantanen for the last two games, and it looks like he will not return to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Golden Knights. The talented winger will have missed the last three games, and fantasy owners are starting to scrabble. The Avalanche still have an outside chance at making the playoffs, so it’s hard to drop Rantanen with so much still left to play for. If you’ve held onto him this long and aren’t in danger of losing your weekly matchup, hold onto him for just a little longer. If by Monday he’s not ready to return to the lineup, you can move on from him.
Max Pacioretty - Las Vegas Golden Knights - Winger
Injury: lower-body, day-to-day.
It looks like winger Max Pacioretty may be ready to return to the lineup in the next few days, but we are still waiting for head coach Gerard Gallant to confirm that. The veteran forward has already missed two games with a lower-body injury, but the injury wasn’t deemed to be too serious, so it sounds like Pacioretty could return soon. The Golden Knights have three games over the next four days, so fantasy owner’s can afford for Pacioretty to sit out one more game. It would be ideal if he could play all three, but we won’t push our luck here. We should get an update on his status later on today.