Fantasy buzz: Impact of Muzzin injury; Neuvirth nearing return

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.

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Muzzin week to week for Kings

Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin is week to week after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Muzzin (21st among defenseman in Yahoo) will likely finish the regular season with 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists), 14 power-play points, 154 shots on goal, a plus-10 and 170 hits. His category coverage will be difficult to replace in-house, but veteran defenseman Dion Phaneuf (33 percent owned in Yahoo) is the leading candidate.
Phaneuf had two power-play assists in Los Angeles' 3-0 win against the Flames on Monday. He finished the game with one SOG, one hit and 3:39 on the power play (second among Kings defensemen behind Drew Doughty). The Kings have five games remaining, including four at home, where Phaneuf has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) and 64 SOG. Phaneuf's hits-per-game average (2.2) is similar to Muzzin's (2.3), making him a viable replacement option.
An outside option is Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore, who is on a four-game point streak. Theodore (19 percent owned) has five points (one goal, four assist), 15 SOG and five hits over the four-game span. He led Golden Knights defensemen with 2:32 on the power play in their 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. Theodore ($4,600 in DraftKings) remains a DFS value pick against the Coyotes, who are allowing the fifth-most DraftKings points to opposing defensemen.
READ:
More replacements in NHL.com's top 50 defenseman rankings

Mittelstadt to debut for Sabres on Thursday

Buffalo Sabres center prospect Casey Mittelstadt is expected to make his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-D, NHL.TV). Mittelstadt is expected to center the second line with forwards Sam Reinhart (205th in Yahoo) and Evan Rodrigues.
Mittelstadt (fewer than 1 percent owned in Yahoo) had 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in seven games at the 2018 World Junior Championship and 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 34 games for University of Minnesota. He has immediate fantasy relevance playing with Reinhart, who leads the Sabres with 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 12 games since March 1.
The Sabres have six games remaining, including four on the road, where Reinhart has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 37 games.

Neuvirth could start for Flyers

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who has been out since Feb. 18 with a lower-body injury, could return against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSP+, NHL.TV).
Neuvirth (8 percent owned in Yahoo) is 6-2-1 with a .926 save percentage in 10 career appearances in April. Neuvirth ($7,400 in DraftKings) would be an against-the-grain DFS play if he starts considering the Avalanche have scored the fourth-most home goals in the NHL (134).
Starting goaltender Petr Mrazek allowed three goals on 23 shots faced in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Since winning his first three games after being traded to the Flyers on Feb. 19, Mrazek is 2-5-3 with an .868 SV%.
The Flyers have five games remaining, including their final three against non-contenders.
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