The next stop on the fantasy hockey injury train is Evgeni Malkin. All Pittsburgh would say (from top to bottom) is that the injury is a foot malady that will keep Malkin out for about 2-3 weeks. In so many words, if you were hoping for Evgeni Malkin fantasy points, well, save it for your playoff box pools in April.
Fantasy Hockey Injury: In Their Words
Here was the injury in their own words.
Evgeni Malkin is out 2-3 weeks with a foot injury
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) March 25, 2014
Evgeni Malkin will miss 2-3 weeks with a foot injury. http://t.co/pCz5cRf2j5
— theScore (@theScore) March 25, 2014
Again, the basic gist is that Evgeni Malkin will be out for the rest of the regular season. For people wondering, nothing major is injured but the foot is stressed enough that Malkin needs to take it easy for the next three weeks, maybe a hair less. Fantasy hockey owners need to take note here as it looks like the injuries seem to just keep on mounting.
Between Patrick Kane and Evgeni Malkin, that is two of the top ten players in all of the NHL down with injuries. The basic theory is that one in every five players are injured. That is not far off. Realistically there are almost 150 official and unofficial injuries throughout the league right now.
The next obvious question is what the heck are you going to do. Hey, at least Sidney Crosby is not injured on top of it. There can be many worse scenarios like your whole fantasy hockey team having an unannounced vacation on a night with 10+ games. That happens twice in a week and that means playoff death generally.
Again, the question begs to be asked. What do you do? What do you do? Let’s try and come up with something on the fly.
Possible Evgeni Malkin Solutions
Since there is really not much on the waiver wire at this stage of the game, the best things you can do as a fantasy owner is the following
- Do not panic
- Adapt
- Explore the waiver wire
It really is that easy. What else can really be done? Marcel Goc is going to move up and he may see a little more power play time. You will also want to check out Lee Stempniak as he will have to take on a bit bigger of a role also. Those were two of the acquisitions during the trade deadline by Ray Shero. The key is to strike while the shock is still there.
As for daily values, this changes some things a little but less than in, say, season-long leagues. My advice is to run Pittsburgh’s top line and little else for the next few games while they adjust. It might take a little time as seen by last night’s action.
Stay tuned and just try to pick and pick and pick at the waiver wire when you can and just hang on for the ride. That is all you really can do right now. Good luck!
