Fantasy Hockey Injury Report: Drew Doughty Returns; Updates on Kirill Kaprizov, Nico Hischier and Andrei Vasilevskiy

Today I’ve got a few injury updates for you. Some good news, and some bad.

The Minnesota Wild again lost Kirill Kaprizov, the Devils' bad luck continues with Nico Hischier, the Los Angeles Kings finally get Drew Doughty back from his season-long ankle injury recovery, and the Tampa Bay Lightning lose 4-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks while Andrei Vasilevskiy is out, but is reportedly only dealing with illness, not injury.

I do want to preface a couple of these by reminding you that the Four Nations Cup is coming up, starting on February 15 and will eat some time on these injuries which is great for both the teams, and your roster as these players will both miss less games, and have more recovery time.

Let’s take a look.

Buzz Kill or Thill Kill?

Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild is on my FantasySP radar again! He returned for a whopping three games before reaggravating his lower body injury that previously kept him out for 12 games, and he now will be having surgery to repair it tomorrow.

It is looking like Kaprizov will be out for four-to-six weeks or so while he recovers. The team has stated that while Kaprizov could have played through this injury, he likely would have only been performing at approximately 60% and if he is sidelined now, they will have him for an end of season push and ready for playoffs. Great for keeper or dynasty fantasy leagues, not so great for re-draft leagues. He should be able to help you for playoffs, though!

As things sit, Kirill “the thrill” is scheduled to return at the end of February, but given he does not go under the knife until tomorrow, I would not put much stock until post surgery for an estimated return date.

Kaprizov has 23 goals, 29 assists, and 12 powerplay points. He also has 128 shots on goal, but the rest of his peripherals are pitiful to say the least at only 12 hits and 15 blocked shots - all of this in a diminished 37 games played.

Keep in mind Kaprizov is 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 miss him greatly, again. Have I said this before? I feel like a broken record, here.

Last Night was the Night!

Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings is finally back in action last night's tilt against the Florida Panthers. He was activated off of IR earlier today. If you’ve been holding Doughty all season, this is finally the moment you have been waiting for!

Again, without Doughty, the Kings have posted an impressive (for their roster) 26-15-6 record. They are still third in the division, the same as the last time we checked in here.

To recap: 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.

More broken record stuff here, but 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.

It’s probably way too late to be picking up Doughty with the news of his return breaking yesterday afternoon, but if you haven’t missed the bus, don’t! Grab him immediately, but be cautious of the rust he will have to shake off and the conditioning he will need to do to catch up.

Devils' Injury List Heats Up

Nico Hischier of the New Jersey Devils missed his second consecutive game last night. Saturday, Hischier left the game early playing the Montreal Canadiens. While initially a cautionary scratch, this afternoon head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed that Hischier would not play and unfortunately is considered week-to-week with an upper body injury.

For the Devils, this comes as a huge blow as Nischier is both their captain, and leading scorer. Fantasy holders should also be concerned with the week-to-week diagnosis from Keefe, as there is not much more for information out there, except he is reportedly going to be re-evaluated next week. We’ll check back as we know more about this superstar.

This year, Hischier has 24 goals, 19 assists, and 18 powerplay points. He has also put up 141 shots on goal, 28 hits, and 46 blocked shots. 

If nothing else, take solace in that a portion of this injury and rest will come during the Four Nations Cup, which will minimize the games Nico misses while on IR.

Nothing to Sneeze At

Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning is out and considered day-to-day due to illness. Jonas Johansson got the start Tuesday and Kyle Konin backed him up, but unfortunately they were defeated in a 4-1 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks.

It was noted that Vassy did not practice with the team and there were some concerns, but we are told this is only due to illness. Hopefully he is back tonight for their game against the Los Angeles Kings, since losing to the worst team in the league is not a good luck. Sorry Blackhawks fans, but even Connor Bedard can’t seem to save you this season.

Vassy has 20 wins in 37 starts, putting up a .916 save percentage, a 2.34 goals against average, and two shutouts. If I have to tell you that Vassy is an elite tendy who is keeper worthy... well, I guess I’ll just tell you then. Vassy is an elite tendy who is keeper worthy. Enough said.

Closing Thoughts

Again, the Four Nations Cup is in a couple weeks and will help you out in your matchups because these players will be missing less time for you. If you had one of the players I talked about today, or another player of lower profile go down that you need help for I suggest taking a peek at FantasySP’s Waiver Wire tool to take a look at some available players in your league.

Also, if you haven’t synced your league up, it’ll make it that much easier to go through the list of available players where you can see all of the statistics necessary to make the right deicision on what player you add or stream. What are you waiting for? Try it out!