Fantasy Hockey Injury Report: Kirill Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon and Drew Doughty Set to Return, while Valeri Nichushkin Suffers Setback

Today I’ve got a few injury reports that could soon impact your rosters. Both the Minnesota Wild and the Los Angeles Kings are set to get franchise players back into the lineup, but the Colorado Avalanche continue their season long injury woes.

Let’s take a look at some injury updates. 

Wild “Thrilled” with Returning Players

As per Michael Russo’s tweet, the Minnesota Wild have two impactful players scheduled to return to the lineup in tomorrow’s game vs. the Utah Hockey Club. Bolstering their forward core, and blueline, this will be a huge relief for the Wild and should continue their strong play, despite losing three of their last four games.

Kirill Kaprizov has been the unexpected franchise player the Wild have been looking for. Sadly, the league’s new “thill” has missed 13 games this season due to injury. That hasn’t stopped him from having a nine-point lead on young buck Matt Boldy, who has played all 47 games and is second in team scoring. Kaprizov also still leads the team in both goals, and assists, too.

Kaprizov has 23 goals, 27 assists, and 11 powerplay points. Add to this 120 shots on goal, and you have a franchise forward with elite deployment. Kaprizov is a mainstay on the top forward line and number one powerplay.

Having him back in the lineup will add to their massive firepower up front and give more depth to all of the forward lines. The Wild have missed him greatly.

Jared Spurgeon is also set to return tomorrow, being scheduled to activate off of the IR at the same time as Kirill the thrill. Spurgeon is the captain of the Wild and provides a veteran leadership and calming presence in the locker room. He’s also missed a significant 15 games this season.

Spurgeon does have spotty powerplay time, going up and down between the first and second unit, but has decent peripherals playing on the penalty kill with 27 hits and 52 blocked shots.

The captain scoring wise has four goals, nine assists, three powerplay points, and 59 shots on goal. Nothing to ride home about here, but is a solid streaming option for your blueline when healthy.

The Kings Royalty

Drew Doughty is finally looking like he is going to make a comeback. He hasn’t played a game yet this season, but is traveling with the team this week for their five-game road trip. He was also seen wearing a regular sweater in practice. The long-awaited return of the franchise defender is what the Kings could need to break back into the next level.

The days of the “Death Valley” roadtrip in the NHL are long gone, however with the resurgence of the San Jose Sharks and Macklin Celebrini, and the unexpected streakiness and young talent on the Anaheim Ducks, the Kings’ solid play this season does bring hope to the state of California. Yes, I know the Sharks and the Ducks are at the bottom of the conference, but there are glimmers of hope for the future!

Without Doughty, the Kings have posted an impressive (for their roster) 25-14-5 record. While they might be third in the division, they notably have more points on the season than the Tampa Bay Lightning, just for comparison's sake.

Doughty last year had 15 goals, 35 assists, and 22 powerplay points and had a +15 +/-. He also had great peripherals in 135 shots on goal, 104 hits, and 142 blocked shots in a full 82 games played.

No doubt Doughty is an elite franchise defender, however with a track record of injuries during his career, and his age coupled with missing half a season, he will undoubtedly need some time to get back up to speed, and may not be the player he once was.

Is he an easy waiver wire pickup? Yes. Should you have had him stashed away while on LTIR? Yes. Is he a keeper? No, but that doesn’t mean he is not worth a hold and risk on your roster, because once he gets going his ceiling is worth the wait.

An Avalanche of Injuries

Valeri Nichushkin finally returned in a slew of elite players that returned from injury lately, only to go down again. Other injuries the Avs have faced this year include captain Gabriel Landeskog (who has yet to return, and has not played a game since 2022), Jonathan Drouin, and Artturi Lehkonen.

Having played only 21 games this season, and now not having played a game since December 31, the team announced some bad news for “Nuke” holders. He suffered a setback in his recovery and is back to being listed as out week to week. This is disappointing for your team, and theirs considering his production since his return to the lineup.

Nuke has put up 11 goals, six assists, and two powerplay points in his 21 games played. He’s also added 52 shots on goal, 18 hits, and 10 blocked shots. He was getting time up and down the powerplay and getting 20+ minutes of deployment per game.

Deployment with those numbers on a team stacked full of talent including those listed earlier who returned from injury, plus Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, Nuke is worth an IR stash until he returns and a hold when he does.

Without question, he has elite deployment on one of the best teams in the league. And now that the Avalanche have figured out their goaltending thanks to the addition of Mackenzie Blackwood, Nichushkin will have value even if not performing to the best of his ability.