Injury Report
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Field guide
What a designation actually tells you
Injury tags look precise and aren't. They describe a club's expectation when it filed the report, not a probability you can bank a lineup on, and hockey clubs are famously vague: "upper body" and "day-to-day" cover everything from a bruise to a broken hand. Here is how each maps to real availability. Injured reserve means shelved for a stretch of games, not a night; treat him as gone until a return date surfaces, and use an IR slot if your league has one. Long-term IR is the same with a longer floor, usually 24 days or ten games.
Out is the one honest label on the list. He isn't playing tonight. Day-to-day is where managers lose points, because it covers a genuine coin flip and a veteran being rested on the second night of a back-to-back, and the tag alone cannot separate the two.
Read the rest
Read the rest
The morning skate is the real signal
Who takes line rushes at the morning skate tells you far more than the tag does. A player skating on his usual line with his usual partners is almost always playing; one who skates on his own before the group, or not at all, is a bet you shouldn't make. Goalies are the exception: the starter is usually the first off the ice, and the club often confirms him only an hour before the game. The scoreboard shows what happened last game; the tag here says what the club expects for the next one.
One habit worth keeping
Roster a viable alternative anywhere your starter is tagged. A bench spot costs nothing next to a zero, and on a four-game week a healthy third-liner beats an injured star. Before puck drop, believe your league's official status over any page on the internet, including this one.