The M*A*S*H Report: Injuries from around the NHL's Playoff Picture

As the season winds down, it's the time of year where the news wire is as overflowing as ever with injury news.

If you haven't heard, Ryan Smyth's season is over for the Colorado Avalanche, and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier is set to undergo wrist surgery.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, as may be the case), the only playoffs that these injuries have an impact on are Fantasy Hockey Playoffs.

With both the Lightning and Avalanche planning for 2009-10 (or maybe 2010-11, as the case may be), though, they aren't the only teams suffering through debilitating injuries. Some teams have been missing players since the beginning of the year and they aren't coming back; while others are just getting bitten at simply the wrong time.

But while a team's hot or cold play entering the post-season is what most look at when it's match-up time, a key injury could be the difference between hitting the front nine on a Monday morning, or waking up with a hangover sometime in June.

So call it the M*A*S*H list, the E.R. Extravaganza, or Grey's Anatomy Hockey Style, brought to you by B-Dreamy (I wish). Here's the injury picture heading into the last few games of the NHL season:

Note: This is not all of the teams in the NHL, just those who have qualified for the playoffs and those who are close.

The Stanley Cup Favorites: "Advice after injury is like medicine after death"—Proverbs

Everyone has their own list of Stanley Cup favorites, but pretty soon you'll understand why certain teams aren't in this portion of the list.

The Eastern Conference reincarnation of Cinderella (or the 2007 Ottawa Senators and 2008 Montreal Canadiens...how about that for eerie comparisons) has been rolling all season.

Even after losing Marco Sturm to ACL/Meniscus surgery in late December, the Boston Bruins just replaced him from within and kept working toward their goal of clinching the Eastern Conference.

Now they're without Phil Kessel (he's missed four straight games and could be out another week) and Shawn Thornton, but both will be back in time for the playoffs.

The Detroit Red Wings have been without the concussed Andreas Lilja for the past month, but Jonathan Ericsson has looked good slipping into the Wings' lineup. The "what could've been" 60-point season for Brian Rafalski, however, has fallen by the wayside, as the three-time Cup champ (and my dark horse for the Norris) isn't skating yet after a groin injury, and may need another week to recover.

Then there are the San Jose Sharks with the following: Kent Huskins—Foot surgery; has been practicing but no hard return date (or debut date); Claude Lemieux—Jaw Injury; is at least skating; Mike Grier-Knee surgery; is at least skating again; Tomas Pilhall and Patrick Marleau are both out with lower body injuries, and Rob Blake and Marcel Gok made their returns last night in Edmonton.

It basically looks like the last scene in Kill Bill.

On the bright side, Uma Thurman is hot. Expect more references.

The "Hot Teams" (at least six wins in last 10 games as of Thursday afternoon): I just have to make sure that in my mind, I'm ready for being able to play with the pain."—Kim Clijsters

You know what? We're starting with the easy teams after the debacle that was the San Jose Sharks. The Vancouver Canucks got Rick Rypien back on Tuesday following his sports hernia surgery that left him off the ice since October. But his "hot start" of two goals in five games has turned into no points in two games since coming back.

The New York Rangers are also a little light in the emergency room, only missing out on Michal Rozsival who'll be out one to two weeks with a lower body injury. On the bright side, he's taken his hardest skate in four years.

What exactly does that say about his New York Rangers career, then? Apparently, he doesn't have to try very hard to be a 30-point defenseman.

Speaking of teams in good positions, the Carolina Hurricanes just got Scott Walker back from Eric Lindros (post concussion) syndrome (although we can't say the same for David Tanabe), and the 'Canes may be getting Matt Cullen back soon if he can recover from his foot injury.

While Mike Zigomanis remains out of action due to shoulder surgery, the Pittsburgh Penguins' Phillippe Boucher is getting back into game shape and is going to be eased into the lineup when the time is right.

No word yet if Brent Johnson is preparing to return to the Washington Capitals lineup, but Washington has a few other problems: Donald Brashear is skating but can't participate in contact drills (kind of hard when a., you play hockey, and b., you're Donald Brashear), Chris Clark is out because of wrist surgery, Boyd Gordon broke his finger, but hopes to be back before the end of the year, while Quintin Lang is out with a torn spleen. No word yet on whether this had anything to do with it.

Both the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets may be receiving some boosts for the playoffs, though. While Brad Larsen and Bret Hedican are out for the rest of the year (unless a miracle happens with Hedican's back), word is that Francois Beauchemin could be back if the Ducks luck out and go for a deep playoff run.

Fans of the Blue Jackets may be interested to know that Derick Brassard recently joined the Blue Jackets for practice (whether this mean's he'll try to get into some playoff action, I don't know), while Rostislav Klesla, Jason Chimera, and Fredrik Modin could all be ready for Saturday's game. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen remains out, though, and will be for a while.

Now for the St Louis Blues! This should be easy!! Eric Brewer herniated a disc and he's out for the season. DJ King? You better believe he's still out with shoulder surgery! Erik Johnson is still feeling the effects of that golf cart (Oops...apparently that was K-Fed, this one's funnier anyhow), but Paul Kariya might be back if the Blues make the playoffs! Patrik Berglund is also day-to-day now, too.

The Cold Teams (Five or fewer wins in their last ten): I might be one of the most injured athletes in the history of sports—Bill Walton

The Philadelphia Flyers have gotten nothing this season out of Mike Rathje or Derian Hatcher. On the plus side, Rile Cote could be back from a finger injury tonight.

On the down side, there aren't any plans for a The Producers 2: Return of Ulla.

Still, in the Atlantic, Brent Sutter isn't happy that New Jersey Devils forward Patrick Elias' leg injury is taking so long to heal, but defenseman Andy Greene is getting closer to returning now that his ankle has started to heal (pun wasn't intended...but it's still there).

The Montreal Canadiens were forced to think fast when Carey Price came down with the flu yesterday, recalling Marc Denis. The loss of Robert Lang continues to hurt a fairly streaky team, while Francis Bouillon hopes to return from a torn groin before the playoffs begin. Another player Habs fans should monitor is Sergei Kostitsyn. After hitting his head Tuesday, there's still no scheduled return for the Belorussian.

Speaking of the Chicago Blackhawks, Brent Sopel is skating, but his elbow injury is still preventing him from playing. David Bolland sat out a game earlier this week, and has been walking with a limp for a while now, while Troy Brouwer missed his second consecutive game this week with a knee injury.

The Calgary Flames are hurting too though, as they've been missing Rhett Warrener, Wayne Pirmeau, Mark Giordano, and Rene Bourque for extended periods of time— none of whom have set timetables for return. Andre Roy is also out and his hand is in a cast, even though there are no broken bones in it. Cory Sarich is also dealing with a sore foot after blocking a shot earlier in the week.

But if you thought all of that was bad, how about this: The Nashville Predators have lost Martin Era (broken leg), Alexander Sulzer (separated shoulder), and Jason Arnott (concussion) for the remainder of the year. David Legwand is still out after breaking a cheekbone during practice, Wade Belak is still hampered by a lower-body injury (although he's skating on his own), and Ryan Jones, Antti Pihlstrom, and J.P. Dumont are all questionable for Friday night.

You'd think the team has the same doctor as Uma did.

 The Bubble Teams (Not quite in the playoffs): "We pray for his buttocks and his family"—Jim Bowden on Jesus Colume

Although the Florida Panthers are still battling, well...they'll still have to do it without Bryan Allen, who's been out for basically the entire season. Kind of like Brad Richards breaking his hand, playing a game, and then breaking his other hand.

The Minnesota Wild, surprisingly, are without a Marian Gaborik injury. On the other hand, both Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are out indefinitely with concussions, and Derek Boogard has missed three-straight games with an "upper-body injury."

Finishing it up, the Edmonton Oilers lost Lubomir Visnovsky for the season a while ago, but Ladislav Smid just recently broke his hand, a depressing late-season setback for a player with so much upside.

Speaking of upside....yeah, we'll end it on that note.

Bryan Thiel is a Senior Writer and an NHL Community Leader for Bleacher Report. If you want to get in contact with Bryan, you can do so through his profile, or email him at [e-mail]. You can also check out all of his previous work in his archives.