Yahoo Fantasy Hockey: Sorting through impactful injuries

(Ed. Note: We’re once again pleased to partner with Dobber Hockey to provide fantasy hockey insight throughout the NHL season. Here’s Steve Laidlaw, the Managing Editor of DobberHockey, as your new fantasy hockey smarty-pants!)

By Steve Laidlaw

Injuries are just one of those things we must suffer as hockey fans and as fantasy hockey participants. Our favourite players will get hurt. The game is too fast and too physical for it to be avoided. The season is so long and so dense that even the hardiest players grow weary. Sure, they added the bye week this season but we haven’t even hit that point yet, and already superstars are dropping left and right. Let’s run down some of the most recent injuries and the fantasy impact:

Ryan O’Reilly – C – Buffalo Sabres – day-to-day with a mid-body injury

O’Reilly has been hampered with a back issue since the World Cup and it probably won’t go away. This seems like the type of injury that won’t go away without significant time off or perhaps surgery. O’Reilly and the Sabres seem intent on grinding this out, which means he’ll be in and out of the lineup all season.

Sam Reinhart jumps up to No. 1 centerman when O’Reilly sits but in the long run this is a bad thing. Jack Eichel might be back before Christmas and we’d all rather see Reinhart riding on Eichel’s wing than slotting in at center.

O’Reilly is the Sabres’ best player. With Kyle Okposo on his wing the Sabres have a legit shutdown line to throw at the opposition. Without him, they are sunk and Robin Lehner’s will feel the brunt of that. Don’t even bother using Lehner if O’Reilly is out.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Hockey contest now]

Steven Stamkos – C – Tampa Bay Lightning – out with a knee injury

We don’t know the full details on Stamkos, just that he went down with a knee injury in the first period of Tuesday night’s game in Detroit. The injuries are starting to mount as the Lightning are also dealing with Jonathan Drouin’s concussion woes and Anton Stralman has missed the past couple of games as well.

If Stamkos misses any time Tyler Johnson should awaken from his slumber. He has done some of his best work with Stamkos out. And if Johnson still stumbles, at least the 57% of you still hanging on in Yahoo leagues will at least know that it’s time to give up. Johnson notched an assist filling in for Stamkos last night, so the early returns look good.

The trickledown effect is that if Stamkos misses extended time they will still have room for both diminutive youngsters Brayden Point and Drouin (whenever he gets back from his latest concussion). The Lightning have seemingly not had a healthy forward group all season so they haven’t had to make a tough decision with Point.

Taylor Hall – LW – New Jersey Devils – has returned to New Jersey for MRI on lower-body injury

The Devils have three more games on their Western road trip ending with a match in San Jose on Monday. They don’t play at home again until November 23rd. Presumably, Hall will be out until then, and perhaps longer.

There is no obvious fill in for Hall in the Devils lineup with Mike Cammalleri missing time due to personal reasons.

Hall is also the single best offensive weapon for a team that ranks 23rd in scoring at 2.40 goals per game. Here are the line combinations New Jersey went with while both Hall and Cammalleri were out on Tuesday, courtesy of our Frozenpool Tool:

BENNETT,BEAU – PARENTEAU,PA – ZAJAC,TRAVIS

HENRIQUE,ADAM – PALMIERI,KYLE – ZACHA,PAVEL

FIDDLER,VERNON – KALININ,SERGEY – LAPPIN,NICK

BOUCHER,REID – JOSEFSON,JACOB – SMITH-PELLY,DEVANTE

That second line with Henrique, Palmieri and Zacha looks mighty intriguing. Most of the power play time available went to Henrique, Palmieri, Josefson and Zajac, with the under-rated Damon Severson manning the point. Perhaps this is where Henrique gets another hot streak going. At the end of the day, this team is going to struggle to score without Hall.

Pekka Rinne – G – Nashville Predators – day-to-day

Rinne’s injury isn’t supposed to be serious but it’s worth reminding just how valuable youngster Juuse Saros is. He has excellent numbers in the AHL and performed well in a win over the Stanley Cup champions in his lone start. If Rinne misses any extended time, Saros could run with the job and spark a genuine goalie controversy.

Marek Mazanec got the spot start in place of Rinne against the Leafs on Tuesday and it was a disaster. Mazanec is not a threat so be ready to pounce on Saros any time injury news breaks regarding Rinne.

Anze Kopitar – C – Los Angeles Kings – day-to-day with an upper-body injury

It sounds like Kopitar may be close to returning. His early season struggles are only compounded by missing time. We have learned in recent years that Kopitar is a slow starter so there is no reason to panic.

With Kopitar out the Kings are a bad team, bleeding scoring chances that they normally snuff out. We have seen the return of That 70’s Line thanks to this injury, so there’s a silver lining to be had. It has also meant a spike in power play time for Tanner Pearson. He has yet to take advantage but should Kopitar miss an extended run, Pearson would be worth considering.

Johnny Gaudreau – LW – Calgary Flames – out with a broken finger

As if things weren’t gloomy enough in Calgary, now they’ve lost their lone source of offense. Expect things to continue to get worse for Sean Monahan. On the positive side, the Flames recently moved Sam Bennett to the wing and perhaps it is time for a top line cameo to fill in for Gaudreau. Or perhaps they give Matthew Tkachuk a spin having recently gotten him back from injury.

***

Now let’s look at some intriguing waiver wire pickups. The Flames and the Capitals have the best remaining schedule for streaming options this week. They boast the favourable Wednesday/Friday/Sunday schedule playing on days when the schedule is mostly empty, so you are sure to be able to use these players without overlap in your lineup.

Dmitry Orlov – D – 5% owned: Orlov doesn’t have great numbers. He is caught behind John Carlson and Matt Niskanen in the pecking order. But he is seeing almost 20 minutes per game with some secondary power play time. Orlov is also wildly skilled and could probably play a more prominent role on a lot of teams. He is worth grabbing for the game volume this week.

Andre Burakovsky – LW/RW – 26% owned: Burakovsky is ice cold after a blazing start to the season. The timing for a pick up isn’t optimal but it’s hard to turn your nose up at a streaming option who can score points in bunches and gives you three cracks at it.

Troy Brouwer – RW – 18% owned: You remember Brouwer, right? The guy you drafted thinking he’d build on his excellent playoff run while teaming with the explosive Gaudreau for a breakout season. That was always a foolish notion. Brouwer has played with stars at every stop in his career and has yet to put up a 50-point season. He is, however, a solid multi-category contributor. If you score Hits, he’ll at least give you some of those. The timing here is poor with Gaudreau potentially missing time.

Dennis Wideman – D – 12% owned: Everyone is sleeping on Wideman. Injuries derailed him last season but he is a proven veteran puck mover with 50-point upside. There are probably too many good players ahead of him on the depth chart for 50 to happen again but he has five points in 10 games so far, which is a 40-point pace. You don’t typically find defensemen scoring at that rate lingering on the waiver wire.

Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of DobberHockey. Follow him on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw