This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Poor Corey Perry. First, the guy picked up the mumps, which not only caused him to miss five games over two weeks, but once he came back it took a while to get up to game speed – he recorded just two points in his first six games back. He had gotten things going again in his last four games recording five points in two multi-point efforts before suffering a knee injury Friday against the Wild.
It is not clear whether the knee injury is serious or not (reports have varied a bit), but Perry will be out into next week for sure. The impact of the injury extends beyond the 2011 Hart Trophy winner himself, as the Ducks will not only be without one of the NHL's top players, but their other star – Ryan Getzlaf – will be without his usual running mate. While Getzlaf is a very good player regardless, when teamed up with Perry he is elite. Since 2007 when Getzlaf plays without Perry in 5-on-5 situations (zone adjusted), his puck possession and goal output numbers drop significantly – Getzlaf's Corsi-For% (CF%) with Perry is 53.7% and his Goals-For% (GF%) is 59.2%; without Perry those rates drop to 48.8% (CF%) and 47.5% (GF%). The Ducks don't have a player who can replace Perry and Getzlaf will be affected without a doubt.
Perry has been very good this year when healthy – his 82 game pace for goals would put him close to 50. For fantasy owners, there is nothing to do but wait and hope that his knee injury turns out to be relatively minor. We should find out early next week.
Now, onto the preview of Sunday's games.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Anaheim Ducks (Frederik Andersen) at Winnipeg Jets (Ondrej Pavelec), 3:00 PM
Detroit Red Wings (Petr Mrazek) at Carolina Hurricanes (Anton Khudobin), 5:00 PM
Vancouver Canucks (Eddie Lack) at Ottawa Senators (Robin Lehner), 7:00 PM
San Jose Sharks (Alex Stalock) at Edmonton Oilers (Ben Scrivens), 9:00 PM
*Confirmed Starters
Injury News For Teams Playing Wednesday
Anaheim Ducks
Eric Brewer, D - Brewer (foot) was placed on injured reserve Thursday. (12/4/2014)
Francois Beauchemin, D - Beauchemin has been diagnosed with a broken finger and will miss four-to-six weeks. (11/28/2014)
Jason LaBarbera, G - LaBarbera is out two-to-three weeks with a broken bone in his hand, Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register reports. (12/3/2014)
Corey Perry, RW - Perry (knee) will be re-evaluated when the Ducks return home, Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register reports. (12/6/2014)
Ben Lovejoy, D - Lovejoy (finger) could return to the Ducks in a week or two, Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register reports. (12/3/2014)
Winnipeg Jets
Grant Clitsome, D - Clitsome (undisclosed) has been ruled out for two weeks, Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun reports. (12/4/2014)
Toby Enstrom, D - Coach Paul Maurice announced Thursday that Enstrom (lower body) would be out for at least three more weeks, Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun reports. (12/4/2014)
Zach Bogosian, D - Bogosian will miss four-to-six weeks with a lower-body injury. The Jets have placed him on injured reserve. (12/4/2014)
Detroit Red Wings
Justin Abdelkader, LW - Abdelkader (upper body) won't play in either of Detroit's two weekend contests, MLive.com's Ansar Khan reports. (12/5/2014)
Carolina Hurricanes
Jordan Staal, C - Staal (leg) has shed his cast and is expected to begin off-ice workouts soon, NBC Sports reports. (12/1/2014)
Andrej Sekera, D - Sekera (undisclosed) will not play Thursday against the Capitals, Michael Smith of the Hurricanes' website reports. (12/4/2014)
Brett Bellemore, D - Bellemore (lower body) joined the Hurricanes on the ice for Thursday's morning skate. (12/4/2014)
Cam Ward, G - Ward (lower body) is not believed to be dealing with a serious injury, Michael Smith of the Hurricanes' website reports. (12/4/2014)
Vancouver Canucks
Dan Hamhuis, D - Hamhuis (lower body) will not join the Canucks on their seven-game road trip beginning Friday. (11/27/2014)
Zack Kassian, RW - Kassian (finger) was moved to injured reserve Friday. (11/28/2014)
Ottawa Senators
Robin Lehner, G - Lehner (undisclosed) was placed on injured reserve Thursday. (12/4/2014)
Mark Stone, RW - Stone (undisclosed) will miss Saturday's game against the Penguins, Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun reports. (12/5/2014)
Patrick Wiercioch, D - The injury that forced Wiercioch to injured reserve is a muscle strain, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports. (12/4/2014)
San Jose Sharks
Matthew Nieto, LW - Nieto will not play Saturday due to a lower body injury, CSN Bay Area reports. (12/6/2014)
Troy Grosenick, G - Grosenick (upper body) was placed on injured reserve over the weekend. (12/1/2014)
Raffi Torres, LW - Torres (knee) hopes to begin skating in the next week or so, CSNBayArea.com's Kevin Kurz reports. (11/25/2014)
Edmonton Oilers
Benoit Pouliot, LW - Pouliot (foot) was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. (11/26/2014)
Matt Hendricks, LW - Hendricks (leg) didn't travel with the Oilers to Winnipeg for Wednesday's game, Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal reports. (12/3/2014)
Nikita Nikitin, D - Nikitin left Wednesday's game against the Jets with a back injury and will not return. (12/3/2014)
Hot
Nazem Kadri, C – Kadri is a polarizing player, whether one cheers for the Leafs or not. After putting up 44 points in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season, his point 50 point follow up disappointed many. He has only picked up 15 points thus far, but lately he has been on a tear registering eight points in his last eight games. He has upped his shot rate this year to 2.4 shots per game and has just one point on the power play, both of which point to the possibility he could stay hot. Despite all the critics, Kadri could be a good value acquisition.
Antti Raanta, G – As Brady noted yesterday, the Hawks are on fire right now, and having lost starting goalie Corey Crawford, Raanta is likely to benefit. On the season, he has three wins in five starts with 94.2% save percentage. He has won his two starts since Crawford went down. He may not have to be brilliant in order to wrack up a number of wins and significant value for owners. Now is certainly the time to get him.
Cold
Frederik Andersen, G – If you only look at Andersen's wins, one could be forgiven for thinking he has maintained his stellar play from early in the season. He is up to 13 wins on the season and has won six of his last eight starts. In five of those games (including three of the wins), however, he has given up more than three goals. In the last month, he has nine such starts of more than three goals, has given up 40 of the 53 goals he has allowed on the season, and seen his save percentage drop to 91.2%. While he may have once looked like a Vezina contender, Andersen is looking more like a pumpkin these days.
Milan Michalek, LW – Michalek's season has been brutal in general, as the formerly consistent 20-goal scorer has just two markers on the year, but recently he has been especially bad, picking up just one point in seven games. Michalek is just at the beginning of a three-year contract, which may prompt Ottawa to move him if they don't get closer to a playoff spot in the coming months, although what kind of return they would get is not clear.
Recommended Pickup
Tommy Wingels, RW – Wingels stepped up his production to nearly a half point per game last year and thus gar is doing even better with 18 points in 27 games. He is on a tear right now with eight points in his last five games, yet is owner in just 39% of Yahoo leagues. He is entrenched in the Sharks top six forwards, which still has enough firepower to rank in the top half of the league offensively. Wingels should take another step forward this year.
