The 2026-27 NHL season is barely a week old and the injury list already reads like a fantasy manager’s nightmare. Aleksander Barkov left Thursday’s game in San Jose after his knee buckled, the Oilers lost two top-six forwards and their starting goaltender before the home opener was even finished, and the Blue Jackets opened the year without three of their regular defensemen. None of it happened in a vacuum, and all of it changes who belongs in a lineup this week.
Barkov’s Knee Is the Scariest Story in Hockey
Barkov, playing just his second game of the season, left in the second period against the Sharks after his left knee buckled during a board battle with Darnell Nurse and Zack Ostapchuk. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the injury is not related to the ACL and MCL tear that ended Barkov’s 2025-26 season in training camp, and the center was scheduled for an MRI on Friday with no results public yet. The uncertainty itself is the signal. Until Florida confirms a timetable, Barkov should not be trusted in season-long lineups for Saturday or Sunday, and daily fantasy players should avoid banking on any Panthers center production built around him.
The last time Barkov missed extended time, Florida centered its top line with Sam Bennett between Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart, with Anton Lundell pivoting a second line of Brad Marchand and Eetu Luostarinen. That is not confirmation of what happens this time, since Friday’s MRI could come back clean, but it is the blueprint to watch if Florida announces real time missed. Bennett would be the direct beneficiary in points leagues, with Lundell worth a speculative add in deeper formats.
Oilers Down Two Top-Six Forwards and Their Starting Goalie
Edmonton’s situation is arguably messier than Florida’s, even if less alarming injury by injury. Zach Hyman is out with an upper-body injury suffered in the final preseason game against Calgary. He still logged over 20 minutes in the Oilers’ season-opening overtime loss to Vancouver before sitting out the rematch, and coach Mike Babcock has already suggested the absence is closer to two weeks than a few days. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins followed him to injured reserve with a lower-body injury from practice, also expected to cost him roughly two weeks. Goaltender Frederik Andersen, meanwhile, has gone on long-term injured reserve and is not expected back until December.
The fantasy math is straightforward. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are not going anywhere, but their most frequent setup men are, and Edmonton has responded by bumping Vasily Podkolzin onto the top line at practice. Podkolzin, who signed a three-year extension this offseason, now profiles as one of the better waiver adds in the league purely on linemate value; in any format deeper than a shallow mixed league he is worth a roster spot while the top line stays shorthanded. In net, Andersen’s absence leaves Stuart Skinner as Edmonton’s unquestioned starter with no competition for workload, which raises his floor across all formats.
Red Wings and Rangers: Short Absences With Real Ripple Effects
Detroit’s Dylan Larkin will miss the first two games of the season with an upper-body injury suffered in offseason training, but coach Todd McLellan has already targeted a return for Tuesday’s game against Ottawa. This reads as a two-game blip rather than a long-term concern, and Larkin owners in season-long leagues should hold rather than react.
In New York, backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo landed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury just weeks after arriving in a trade from Boston, and the Rangers recalled Dylan Garand from Hartford to fill the roster spot behind him. The real fantasy impact lands on Igor Shesterkin, not Korpisalo. With no proven NHL alternative behind him, Shesterkin is positioned for a heavier workload and fewer scheduled nights off, which nudges his value up in every start-based format.
Blue Jackets Are Playing Without Three Regular Defensemen
Columbus opened the season missing Ivan Provorov, Dante Fabbro and Damon Severson, all considered week-to-week, with Gustav Lundestrom listed month-to-month. Provorov’s absence stands out on its own: the shot that hurt his ankle in the preseason finale ended a run of 375 consecutive games played, a streak nothing but COVID protocol had interrupted in a decade in the league. With that much of the regular rotation out, Zach Werenski is set up for a real jump in power-play time and total minutes, and he should be treated as a must-start in every format until Columbus gets healthy on the back end. The rest of Columbus’s healthy blueliners are also worth monitoring as streaming options in daily formats while the minutes are there for the taking.
The Quick-Hit Waiver Wire
- Add: Vasily Podkolzin, Edmonton. Temporary top-line minutes alongside McDavid and Draisaitl.
- Add: Zach Werenski, Columbus. Power-play workload spikes with three defensemen out.
- Stream: Stuart Skinner, Edmonton. No goaltending competition with Andersen on long-term injured reserve.
- Stream: Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers. Heavier workload with Korpisalo on injured reserve.
- Hold, do not panic: Dylan Larkin, Detroit. Targeting a Tuesday return.
- Monitor before weekend lineups lock: Aleksander Barkov, Florida. No confirmed timetable pending Friday’s MRI.
None of these injuries is catastrophic in isolation, but stacked together in the season’s first week they are already reshaping who belongs in a standard fantasy lineup. The Barkov MRI is the one worth checking again before any Saturday or Sunday lineup locks. Everything else here is actionable right now.
See today's NHL lines on DFS Lines, each one set against the player's last ten games.