9 NHL Injuries That Have Hurt Teams So Far

Injuries are a fact of life in the NHL and if your favorite team can avoid serious ones, you're living well (and lucky). While some injuries can be upsetting for a little while, others can completely upend an entire season.

We're still early enough in the NHL season, but with U.S. Thanksgiving approaching and how teams that aren't in playoff positions by then tend to have a harder go of things the rest of the season, any team dealing with a star player being out of action with an injury is really bad news. We hate to see anyone get hurt, but when the league's best players are sidelined, it's even more painful that we don't get to watch them dazzle us with their abilities.

We'll be taking a look around the league at some of the biggest names who have been KO'd by maladies and how much that's hurt how those teams are faring to this point in the season.

Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers

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After going without captain Aleksander Barkov for all of last season, seeing Barkov go down with an injury in the second game of this season rightfully had everyone in South Florida nervous. Fortunately, his latest injury isn't a season-ender, and he should be back in the coming weeks, but the Panthers have been without him and Brad Marchand and it's tested their depth in a difficult way.

Although going without Marchand is tough, Barkov does everything for Florida. He's an elite scorer, defender and leader by example in the room. Even though their lineup is distinctly veteran, they've got their share of hot-tempered vets in Matthew and Brady Tkachuk as well as Radko Gudas. Having Barkov there to keep everyone focused goes a very long way as evidenced by their back-to-back Stanley Cups.

At 9-7-2, the Panthers are holding it down and in the middle of the pack in a brutally competitive Atlantic Division. If they can keep it level until Barkov (and Marchand) return, things will get a lot tougher for everyone else when they do.

Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild

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The Wild are sitting atop the Central Division and it's pretty incredible that they are given they've been without defenseman Brock Faber all season. Faber fractured his skull when he was hit by a shot in preseason and needed surgery to fix things up.

A scary injury like that is reason enough to hold your breath, but with Faber back skating again and eager to get back on the ice, the way Minnesota has made things work without him is worthy of applause. Yes, having Quinn Hughes as the No. 1 defenseman helps, but with captain Jared Spurgeon and other veterans like Jonas Brodin and Olli Määttä, it makes life on the blue line a little easier to handle without Faber.

Faber is arguably the biggest absence to the Wild lineup, but they've been without goalie Filip Gustavsson after recovering from offseason surgery as well as both Nick and Marcus Foligno. There's no doubt, however, that when Faber returns, they're going to be that much better.

Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers

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Seeing any player get hurt is hard to watch, but when Igor Shesterkin went down after a collision with the post while making a play, seeing him in so much obvious pain had all of us hoping for the best but thinking the worst. When it was confirmed that the Rangers superstar goalie was done for the season after just five games, especially after just scoring his first NHL goal, it was gut-wrenching.

Shesterkin is an entertaining goalie to watch and when he's on, there are few better than him in the league. The Rangers having to scramble to make do without him, especially while also losing Joonas Korpisalo at the same time, delivered a harsh blow to their hopes of getting back to the playoffs.

Rookie Dylan Garand has hung in there as the de facto No. 1. Meanwhile, veteran James Reimer came and went as did farmhand veteran Spencer Martin. Now with Korpisalo back, that'll give Garand a chance to breathe, but knowing they're without Shesterkin for the season puts the Rangers firmly in the rumor mill for any goalies who could be had, especially on a short-term or expiring contract. Still, the Rangers are third in the Metropolitan which means they're in the race and that's more than a lot of people expected after watching Igor go out.

Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders

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The Islanders were some folks dark horse team to make the playoffs this season and Mat Barzal's knee injury that's kept him out from Day 1 this season helped put a damper on those thoughts.

Barzal is getting close to returning. He's been skating and joined the team on a recent road trip, but going without a star talent like him still hurts. The Isles are 7-6-3 which isn't bad but isn't great either because they're in the muddled middle of the pack in the East, but their forward group is screaming out for help and Barzal's return will be a huge help.

Bo Horvat is the team's leading scorer and defenseman Matthew Schaefer is doing a lot of everything from the blue line to make things go. Veteran Brayden Schenn is producing, but beyond him the rest of the scoring is coming from younger guys like Simon Holmstrom, Victor Eklund and Emil Heineman. No doubt that when Barzal returns it'll give them a much-needed boost whether he's playing center or wing.

Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets

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Throughout his career with the Winnipeg Jets, defenseman Josh Morrissey has been one of their best and steadiest players by way of the quality of his play and the fact he would stay healthy over the past few years. But this season, an upper-body injury has kept him off the ice more often than on it.

In four games, Morrissey has no goals and three assists. Without their No. 1 defenseman, the Jets have had their ups and downs already this year what with a long losing streak and now a three-game win streak heading into a matchup with the Devils who won't be starting Morrissey's former teammate Connor Hellebuyck.

Whoever is in goal for the Jets is certainly better off with Morrissey handling the puck and slowing down opposing forwards, but being without him for 14 games already has really hurt them regardless. The Jets lack high-end defensive depth and how good Morrissey is gets lost often because he's in Winnipeg.

Ivan Demidov, Montréal Canadiens

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The Canadiens are 11-3-3 to start the season so it would be hard to know if they were missing anyone from the lineup, but one key guy they've gone without is forward Ivan Demidov.

Demidov is an offensive driver and power play demon for Montréal and in two games this season he has a goal and an assist and, strangely enough, his injury occurred during the preseason, but he tried to tough it out. Doing that may have inadvertently extended the 2-4-week prognosis the Canadiens initially announced and he's remained out of action.

While we're sure Habs fans have nitpicks about how they've played and made note of areas they could be better if Demidov were healthy, the Canadiens are rolling to start the year. They'll undoubtedly be that much better when Demidov returns and get the guy who put up 19 goals and 43 assists (62 points) in his rookie season a year ago.

Bowen Byram, Chicago Blackhawks

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As far as first seasons with a new team who you just signed a massive contract extension with go, this one has been a nightmare for Bo Byram in Chicago.

Byram is currently out of action with an upper-body injury, one which his agent Darren Ferris said he wants Byram to see a specialist for. This came after playing in six games for the Blackhawks in which he had no goals and an assist as well as a minus-7 plus-minus rating.

Slow starts in new places happen and Byram is a good enough player to let his play do the talking eventually. But with his mysterious injury and Chicago off to yet another horrendous start to the season, Byram's time to rewrite the story will have to wait and it's unfortunate because his style of play would at least give the 'Hawks some life to the United Center and give it some much-needed added excitement.

Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers

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The rough start the Philadelphia Flyers have gotten out to has been hindered in part thanks to being without leading scorer Travis Konecny for a chunk of time.

Konecny has played in nine games this season and has a goal and four assists. While his absence allowed rookie Cole Knuble an opportunity, having Konecny in the lineup makes the Flyers a better and more frustrating team to play against and those are two things they have not been so often this year.

Konecny led the Flyers in scoring last season with 68 points including 27 goals. He's got a star player's contract, and he's committed to playing in Philly with a full no-move clause, so even if things get tougher for the Flyers, he's not going anywhere unless he says he will. Fortunately for Philly, Trevor Zegras is playing well, and Matvei Michkov is scoring goals (he has 10 already). With a healthy Konecny back, they have to believe things will turn around... or else.

Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks

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Back in 2023-2024, Thatcher Demko was one of the best goalies in the NHL and helped lead the Vancouver Canucks to the playoffs. In the three seasons now since then, he's played 43 games and has yet to hit the ice this season. It's perhaps not a coincidence that the Canucks have missed the playoffs and sunk to the bottom of the Western Conference in that time.

All right, so that's not all on Demko's injury-ridden seasons, but not having an elite No. 1 goalie for 75 percent of the games is a major obstacle to overcome and Vancouver hasn't been able to get around it at all. The Canucks are off to a rough start again this season and going with Kevin Lankinen (for the third straight season) and Leevi Merilainen instead hasn't been the same as having a healthy Demko.

Demko is slowly working his way back and while no news isn't exactly good news, Canucks coach Manny Malhotra isn't counting him out for this season. We're all hoping to see him back because when he's healthy and he's on, he's phenomenal.