Fantasy Hockey Injury Updates: Auston Matthews, Anthony Stolarz, Zach Hyman and More

Hey folks. Today, I have several huge injury updates for you. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs are taking the brunt here, having their franchise captain and starting goaltender go down, while we have another rising star go down, with a couple much needed returning players.

All five of today's players are impact players and are going to affect your roster and league. Some good, some bad, and some ugly. Let's take a look at today's injury reports!

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Auston Matthews - Toronto Maple Leafs

A rough start for the Maple Leafs is about to get a whole lot worse. The injury woes continue as the captain and franchise player left after the game against the Bruins after a hit by Nikita Zadorov.

Matthews has a history of injuries, and the team is already struggling this season, so his departure from the game after the hit sent pangs of panic throughout the lineup as this was the second player to leave the ice and not return. The Bruins/Leafs rivalry continues after over a decade past the game seven crumble, and will heat back up after losing two of the most important players on the squad leave after injury.

Matthews obviously drives the offense on this team, alongside William Nylander, who has also had injury issues this year, and former captain John Tavares. Matthews has elite deployment as a staple top line forward, top unit powerplay, and a penalty killer. Matthews is the Maple Leafs captain, franchise player, and the heart of the team. He has been categorized as out, but early reports state that he will miss a couple games but the injury is not serious.

Still, look for a replacement for the rest of this matchup knowing whoever you pick up will be a mere shadow in production compared to Matthews sitting on your IR list.

Matthews has nine goals, five assists, and two powerplay points in 17 games played as a forward. He also has 65 shots on goal, 13 hits, and 31 blocked shots.

Anthony Stolarz - Toronto Maple Leafs

The woes continued, as Stolarz left after the first period and was replaced by Dennis Hildeby for the second and third period. Sadly, Stolarz let in four goals before his departure from the game due to injury, which continued his trend of struggling in net since he called out the team for poor defensive play.

It is clear that Stolarz cannot handle the workload that is being thurst against him. He needs Joseph Woll to come back and get back to a tandem. Both Stolarz and Woll play best with a lighter workload, and were among the best tandems in the league last season. 

This season, Woll is still conditioning in the AHL for a return, and has not yet played in the NHL being out for personal reasons.

The Maple Leafs' goaltending this year is among the worst in the league, but it's not Stolarz' fault alone. Defensive play seems to have evaporated from the Maple Leafs' playbook. Once healthy, they need to take a serious look at how their defensive play has become a liability as their contender status slips though their fingertips.

A last note on the Maple Leafs is that on top of Stolarz, Woll, and Matthews being injured, forward Scott Laughton and defenseman Christopher Tanev also remain out on injury. For those counting, that is the first and second goaltenders, the captain and best scorer, the best defensive defenseman on their blueline, and the sandpaper penalty kill specialist center on the team that is currently out. Yikes!

Stolarz has six wins, in 13 games started as a goaltender. He also has an abysmal .884 save percentage, 3.51 goals against average, and zero shutouts.

Zach Hyman - Edmonton Oilers

We've been here before, but finally Hyman is set to return this Saturday. Nobody will be more happy than Connor McDavid. And let's talk about the elephant in the room for fantasy league: Hyman is McDavid's winger, will pick up top line minutes and top powerplay unit time.

The former 50-goal scorer has elite deployment on a team that needs some help this season already. But it's not all sunshine and roses. Let's remember that Hyman has not played a game this season and missed the end of the postseason last year after a wrist injury.

Hyman will have a lot of rust to shake off as he has had quite the lengthy recovery and has missed not only the beginning of this season, but training camp too. 

That said, he should help the Oilers get back to firing on all cylinders, and as we discussed, will be dropped right into some elite deployment with the best player in the world. 

Last season, Hyman had 27 goals, 17 assists, and 12 powerplay points in 73 games played as a forward. He also had 210 shots on goal, 58 hits, and 24 blocked shots.

Valeri Nichushkin - Colorado Avalanche

Luckily, the Avs are very deep, as Nuke sustained an injury last game against the Anaheim Ducks and is listed as week-to-week. Cale Makar's brother Taylor Makar is likely to slot in on the fourth line while there is some shifting to fill Nuke's second line role.

Nuke has had a steady season, enjoying nearly a point per game season, with some physical play added in. There is not much to report on his injury at current, and once a prognosis is given by either the league or the Avalanche organization, we will report on it.

Nuke was a middle six forward, who got some powerplay time as well. He was well insulated on one of the most stacked teams in the league. This absence hurts Nuke fantasy owners more than it does the Avalanche.

For now, given he is listed as week-to-week plan for the worst and grab a long-term streamer, but hope for the best and that the club is playing it safe, rather than sorry, and taking an over-zealous approach.

Nichushkin has five goals, seven assists, and three powerplay points in 17 games played as a forward. He also has 41 shots on goal, 16 hits, and four blocked shots.

Mikael Granlund - Anaheim Ducks

A quick note on a returning Duck who had an unreal start to the season before going on IR due to a lower body injury. Granland was a point per game middle six forward on a surging Ducks team.

Now that he is back, it'll be interesting to see how it shakes up the lines. The club may not want to shake things up too much, because as they say: “if it's not broken, don't fix it!”

Either way, Granlund is a decent depth addition to the team who was already white hot before he left the roster. Granlund is available in most leagues, so if you are needing some scoring depth, he is worth a gamble to see if he falls right back into his pre-injury production.

Granlund has two goals, six assists, and two powerplay points in eight games played as a forward. He also has 19 shots on goal, three hits, and three blocked shots.