Hello!!! I’d say “Good Morning” but I overlooked just how many injuries were occurring as we led up to Opening Night last night in the NHL world. Below I’ve touched on 62 players, their injury situations and who I believe will replace their roles in the lineup. As the season moves along, I will be more detailed in my assessments but 62 players is a lot.
Arizona Coyotes: Phil Kessel (R)/Alex Galchenyuk (L/C/R)/Kyle Capobianco (D) - The latter two players listed have been placed on the IR, and are expected to be out for some time whereas Kessel has a chance to play Opening Night. If Kessel cannot go, I would expect a player like Ryan Dzingel to move up in the lineup from his position on L3. He may be years removed from his 20-goal seasons with Ottawa, but he still has offensive value. This also would slot Andrew Ladd or Liam O’Brien into the lineup in the bottom six with Travis Boyd and Dmitrij Jaskin. Neither forward offers fantasy value. The Yotes are digging deep for forwards to start the year without Galchenyuk, who likely was slotted for C2 where Johan Larsson is now. Rookie Vladislav Provolnev is the bottom pair defenseman on the left side replacing Capobianco, coming off of a 20 point season in the KHL in 2020.
Boston Bruins: Curtis Lazar (R/C) - The bottom six forward was slotted to play on L4 prior to the season beginning, but instead will start the year on the IR. He is dealing with an upper body injury. Karson Kuhlman took his place on L4 with Tomas Nosek and Trent Frederic. Kuhlman played 20 games last season with two goals, and has 13 total points in 56 career games played.
Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Dahlin (D)/Drake Caggiula (L/R) - The former is expected to open the season on the top pair but not at 100% as he works through a lower body injury. Caggiula on the other hand was injured as he collided with the boards, leaving practice and not returning. I’d hope this gives Arttu Ruotsalainen a shot at making the opening night roster. Arttu is solid and with Cozens and Bjork could create some chances.
Calgary Flames: Brad Richardson (C)/Tyler Pitlick (R)/Michael Stone (D) - The latter two players have a chance to make a run at the lineup on Opening night, but Richardson will not. Brad suffered an injury during the preseason and will begin the year on the IR. Pitlick has a knee injury and Stone is working his way through COVID protocol. Due to the injuries to multiple forwards and suspension to Blake Coleman, the team is positioned to open the year 11/7. I would have preferred they called up Matthew Phillips or Adam Ruzicka, but they do have seven capable NHL defenseman even without Stone healthy. It’s surprising that the Flames haven’t figured out a way to deal one of these guys for some depth in the bottom six who has some scoring upside. I imagine when healthy the bottom six is: Coleman-Lucic-Backlund-Pitlick / Lucic-Richardson-Lewis.
Chicago Blackhawks: Caleb Jones (D)/Wyatt Kalynuk (D) - Both defensemen were injured during the preseason and are not going to start the season with the club. They are expected to return within a month or so, but for now the squad is going with Riley Stillman on the bottom pair alongside Ian Mitchell. With the addition of Erik Gustafsson, this team is going to end up in a similar boat to the Flames with 9 NHL defensemen. I wouldn’t be shocked if Mitchell gets sent down to the AHL when they do return given, he seems to have been surpassed by Kalynuk and Gustafsson is a solid powerplay guy.
Colorado Avalanche: Nathan Mackinnon (C/R)/Devon Toews (D)/Pavel Francouz (G) - These three will not be with the team when they take the ice on opening night tonight. MacKinnon tested positive for COVID and is hoping to test negative to return to the team. Toews has an injury that should keep him out no longer than the month of October, while Francouz may miss some time. I still think the team is plenty good enough to win the game, but they are starting 11/7 as of the moment. They have cap restraints, and I wouldn’t be shocked if JT Compher or Alex Newhook get time with Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. The two centers have skill to their game, Newhook put up 5 points in 11 games with the big club last season as his debut.
Dallas Stars: Jason Robertson (L/R)/Blake Comeau (L/R)/Jani Hakanpaa (D) - None of these three players will be taking the ice on opening night for the Stars. The two forwards are day to day with upper body injuries and Hakanpaa is nearly recovered from a broken finger. The injury to Robertson has allowed Joel Kiviranta an opportunity to play on L2 with Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski. Kiviranta played throughout the lineup in 2020, putting up 11 points in 26 games. Jacob Peterson will make his NHL debut on L4 alongside Luke Glendening and Tanner Kero. Peterson is coming off of a 33-point season in Sweden in 2020.
Detroit Red Wings: Jakub Vrana (L)/Givani Smith (L)/Michael Rasmussen (L/C/R)/Adam Erne (L/R) - The Red Wings are certainly starting the year quite banged up with four players on the mend. Vrana will be out long term with a shoulder injury, but the other three are day to day. It’s unclear if any of the trio can go on Opening night. These injuries have given the 4th overall pick in Lucas Raymond start the season on the top line with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. If he is not added in your league at this point, he’s worth the flier. As far as the rest of the lineup is concerned, we are looking at a possible 11/7 situation. The team will still have to recall Joe Veleno to cover C3 between Namestnikov and likely Gagner, but other than that the team will utilize Oesterle or Stecher as an extra defenseman.
Edmonton Oilers: Zack Kassian (R)/Devin Shore (C) - The team may start the year missing two of their bottoms six. Kassian suffered a concussion in a fight during the preseason and will not start the season in the lineup. Shore injured his something during practice and is questionable to play in the opener. Missing two forwards this late in the going may push the team to start the year 11/7 and place Philip Broberg in the lineup. I would be interested if they could take Colton Sceviour, a veteran they had with them for camp, and sign him to play. The fourth line looks to be Brendan Perlini and Tyler Benson for the moment. Benson is a rookie coming off of a PPG season in the AHL in 2020, Perlini put up 16 points in Switzerland last year.
Florida Panthers: Noel Acciari (R/C)/Mason Marchment (L/R)/Kevin Connauton (D) - The trio of players listed suffered injuries during the preseason that will keep them out of their depth roles on the club to start the year. The team will use a fourth line of Thornton-Luostarinen-Duclair which has potential to have some value. There is offensive power there. Ryan Lomberg and Olli Juolevi are the scratches.
Los Angeles Kings: Quinton Byfield (C)/Lias Andersson (C/L)/Andreas Athanasiou (C/L/R)/Olli Maatta (D) - The team will be missing these four players to start the season after they suffered injuries during training camp and the preseason. Byfield is the one who will miss the most time and is the most detrimental to the team's fortunes this season. These injuries opened the door for an interesting line of young studs as L3: Tkachev-Vilardi-Kaliyev. Tkachev comes from the KHL where he had 38 points last season and Kaliyev had 31 points with the teams AHL affiliate, as well as scored a goal in his NHL debut. Christian Wolanin is the 7th defenseman for Maatta, and has played 61 NHL games.
Minnesota Wild: Matthew Boldy (L/R) - The 12th overall pick from 2019 broke his ankle as he made a real push for a roster spot this season. Due to the young stud unable to play opening night, the squad is going with Brandon Duhiame on L4. He is a rookie who has struggled in the AHL the last two years, putting up 29 points in 87 games. I would have preferred Rem Pitlick in such a spot.
Montreal Canadiens: Mike Hoffman (R/L)/Cedric Paquette (C/L)/Joel Edmundson (D) - The Canadiens started September with Hoffman on the mend and he won’t be ready for opening night, and the other two players may not be either. Paquette and Edmundson are physical players and playing hurt with such a style won’t last for long. Chris Wideman is playing on the bottom pair alongside Alex Romanov and likely will play the point on the PP. Adam Brooks is a good candidate for C4 between Mathieu Perreault and Artturi Lehkonen.
Nashville Predators: Mathieu Olivier (R) - The bottom six forward was placed on the IR with an undisclosed injury, opening the way for Philip Tomasino to start on L3 with Cody Glass and Nick Cousins. Tomasino was over a point per game with the AHL affiliate in 2020. He was the team’s 1st round pick in 2019.
New Jersey Devils: Miles Wood (L)/Ty Smith (D)/Damon Severson (D) - All three players are day to day and are questionable for opening night on Friday. The squad is using the Woods injury as a means to get a look at Dawson Mercer with the big club. Mercer is the team's 1st round pick from 2020 and looked good throughout camp, following up an over PPG season in juniors. If the two defensemen can’t go, the team will put together a third pair of Colton White/Christian Jaros, who played a total of 9 games last season.
New York Islanders: Semyon Varlamov (G)/Matt Martin (R/L) - The veteran netminder is joining the team for the season opening road trip but will not dress with the club on game day. Cory Schneider will back up Ilya Sorokin for the time being. One third of the “hardest working line in hockey”, Martin is a banger through and through. The team has an extra forward that fits that task in Ross Johnston. The big man has filled in the bottom six for some time now and played in 12 games last season.
New York Rangers: Ryan Reaves (R) - The team believes that Reaves should be able to get into the action on Opening night, but won’t give a 100% guarantee. He’s one of the most physical players in the league and that may lead to a hesitation to putting him in the lineup. Julien Gauthier could slot into L4 with Rooney and Hunt.
Ottawa Senators: Matt Murray (G)/Austin Watson (R/L)/Colin White (R/C)/Clark Bishop (C) - The teams starter is dealing with an illness and it seems like he won’t be healthy for the opener. Anton Forsberg is the back-up, a guy who played 8 games last season. The three skaters are on the Opening night roster but not healthy enough to play, opening up a few holes in the bottom six. Logan Shaw and Scott Sabourin are currently slotted to play on L4 with Zach Sanford. Neither have fantasy value given their lack of offensive prowess. Chris Tierney moved up from C4 to C3 to replace White between Formenton and Ennis.
Philadelphia Flyers: Rasmus Ristolainen (D)/Ryan Ellis (D) - The pair of defensemen are banged up, missing time and practice while trying to recover for the opening night roster. The team anticipates that both should be able to play. If they cannot go, Cam York and Andrew Clendening would be the likely recalls. The team doesn’t have much for scratches at the moment.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Jake Guentzel (R)/Mike Matheson (D)/Zach Aston-Reese (C) - These three were not in the opening night lineup against Tampa on Tuesday. Despite not being at 100% in the tilt, they came out ahead. Danton Heinen played on L1 for Guentzel, scoring a goal while playing with Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust. I do find that Heinen could be a sleeper after Crosby and Malkin return from injury. Drew O’Connor was in for ZAR and assisted on the team’s second goal, a player that normally is scratched. Lastly, Mark Friedman played on the bottom pair with Chad Ruhwedel.
Seattle Kraken: Yanni Gourde (L)/Calle Jarnkrok (C)/Dennis Cholowski (D) - The expansion team was without these three players on Tuesday, which actually was something they should be thankful for. Going into the day they were down many more after a COVID situation hit the club. Riley Sheahan and Nathan Bastian played on L4 with Brandon Tanev while Will Borgen was recalled as an extra defenseman.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Gemel Smith (C) - The extra forward was injured during training camp, and is not with the club to start the year. Boris Katchouk was recalled to be the team's 13th forward to begin the season and replace Smith. Katchouk was over a PPG in the AHL last season.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews (C)/Mitch Marner (R)/Ilya Mikheyev (R) - The Leafs will struggle to start the season in replacing the first two listed here. Marner may play in the opener, but Matthews is certainly out. Mikheyev would have been a great candidate to take Marner’s place on L1 prior to his injury that will keep him out some time. The L1 trio will feature John Tavares between Nick Ritchie and hopefully Marner but possibly a recall of Nicolas Robertson would make sense in such a spot. Michael Bunting is in the top six for Mikheyev.
Vancouver Canucks: Brock Boeser (R) - The first line sniper will miss the start of the season as he works through his undisclosed injury. He did join the team though on the road trip, meaning his return may be imminent. Alex Chiasson is starting on L1 with Elias Petterson and JT Miller, the veteran had 16 points in 45 games last season.
Vegas Golden Knights: Mattias Janmark (L)/William Carrier (L) - Both players were reported as injured on Monday with situations absent of hard time tables. Janmark was placed into COVID protocol and Carrier has a concussion. The squad went with an 11/7 look in the opening win over the Kraken. Dylan Coghlan was the extra defenseman and Nolan Patrick moved to C3 between Peyton Krebs and Evgeni Dadonov.
Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin (L) - The Capitals without Ovechkin and Backstrom simply are not the same team we’ve known for nearly 15 years at this point. Ovie is dealing with a lower body injury and is hoping that he can make the season opener. I could see Connor McMicheal inserting himself in the top six given his track record and skill level.
Winnipeg Jets: Nikolaj Ehlers (L) - The speedy winger is dealing with an upper body injury that may or may not keep him out of the opening night lineup. The team will need to recall somebody like Luke Johnson or Dominic Toninato to even push an 11/7 roster out there if Ehlers cannot play. Cole Perfetti is a solid candidate to go into the top six with Dubois/Copp in Ehler’s place if necessary.