Fantasy buzz: How to replace injured Draisaitl

All season long, NHL.com's fantasy hockey staff will have you covered with daily lineup news, production trends and injury notes from around the League. We will identify how these developments affect fantasy owners in year-long (Yahoo) and daily (DraftKings) formats.

3:30 p.m.

DraftKings value picks for Tuesday

CENTER

Matt Duchene, COL ($4,800) -- After an offseason of trade rumblings, Duchene has looked resurgent on the Colorado Avalanche's second line. He has six points (three goals, three assists) and 16 shots on goal in six games (3.9 DraftKings points per game), including four points (two goals, two assists) in four road games. He has a strong track record against the Nashville Predators with 28 points in 30 games.

WING

Jakub Vrana, WSH ($4,700) --The Washington Capitals rookie has goals in back-to-back games, giving him five points and 14 shots on goal in six games alongside forwards Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. He's still somehow priced below $5,000 for Washington's home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are scoring in droves but also allowing 3.80 goals per game (third-most in NHL).

DEFENSEMAN

Aaron Ekblad, FLA ($4,900) -- The Florida Panthers defenseman has four points (two goals, two assists) with six blocks and eight SOG in four games to start the season. He has two power-play points already and is a high-volume shooter (225 in 68 games last season) with a high DFS floor. He's tied for fourth among defensemen in DraftKings points per game (4.3), yet still priced 18th at the position.

GOALTENDER

Carey Price, MTL ($7,400) --There will be some nights this season where Price puts the Montreal Canadiens on his back and wins a game almost single-handedly. A road game against the San Jose Sharks is a good opportunity for him to bounce back against an offense that is struggling nearly to the degree of Montreal's. Price is winless in his past four starts (0-3-1), but his DraftKings price is so low that he could easily return value in a potential low-scoring game.
Full list of projected starting goalies
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11:30 a.m.

Karlsson set to make season debut

Fantasy owners who selected an injured Erik Karlsson in the first or second round of their draft are in luck: the defenseman will be back in the Ottawa Senators lineup against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, SNV).
Karlsson missed five games in his recovery from offseason foot surgery, but the Senators went 3-0-2 in his absence, sweeping a three-game western Canada road trip against the Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
With top-ranked fantasy defenseman Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks struggling through four games (no goals, one assist, minus-6), Karlsson hasn't lost much ground in the fantasy rankings at his position. The top three defensemen based on standard-league performance are Mike Green (seventh in Yahoo) of the Detroit Red Wings, Alex Pietrangelo (10th) of the St. Louis Blues and New Jersey Devils rookie Will Butcher (24th).
Priced at $6,700 in DraftKings for Tuesday ($800 cheaper than Burns), Karlsson will likely be a popular pick and is one that should be made with confidence in 50/50 contests. Season-long fantasy owners should activate Karlsson immediately ahead of his favorable home matchup.

Fantasy replacements for Oilers' Draisaitl

Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has been placed on injured reserve with a concussion. He will not play against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, but has not yet been ruled out for the Oilers' upcoming three-game road trip.
Once you are able to stash Draisaitl in an IR spot, one in-house option to consider adding in a deep league is rookie Kailer Yamamoto (RW, 5 percent owned in Yahoo) because he's slotted alongside Connor McDavid and Pat Maroon on the Oilers' first line. Yamamoto is moderately priced at $4,900 in DraftKings on Tuesday.
Their second line is expected to be Ryan Nugent-Hopkins centering Milan Lucic and Zack Kassian, with Lucic being the only fantasy-relevant player of that trio because of his peripheral category coverage. Unless Ryan Strome or Jussi Jokinen joins the top-six forward group, neither is worth adding in fantasy.
Top outside replacement options include Vladislav Namestnikov (C/LW, 44 percent owned) of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jakub Vrana (LW/RW, 39 percent) of the Washington Capitals and Anthony Mantha (LW/RW, 53 percent) of the Red Wings. Brayden Point (C/RW; 68 percent owned) is another viable option from Tampa Bay's top six, and Nick Schmaltz (C/LW; 24 percent) of the Chicago Blackhawks could return from an upper-body injury this week and should rejoin their top line with Patrick Kane.
For more injury replacement options for Draisaitl, check out our
top 10 waiver wire pickups
for this week. For a complete forward outlook, view our
top 100 rankings
.

Jets recall Connor to replace injured Perreault

The Winnipeg Jets have recalled rookie left wing Kyle Connor to replace injured Mathieu Perreault against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-O). Perreault (lower body) is expected to miss four weeks.
Connor (LW, 5 percent owned in Yahoo) is expected to play on an even-strength line with forwards Patrick Laine & Bryan Little and also fill the power-play void left by Perreault, who was averaging 3:35 per game with the man-advantage. Connor is worth adding immediately to your deep or keeper-league roster and to your watch list in other formats. He is a glaring DFS value pick, priced at $3,400 in DraftKings for Tuesday.
The 20-year-old had 44 points (25 goals, 19 assists) in 52 games for Manitoba of the American Hockey League last season, and his strong start (five points, 19 shots on goal in four AHL games) this season made him the obvious replacement for Perreault.