Golden Knights D Alex Martinez could return by next week?

It appears that the Golden Knights will soon be getting a key defenseman back in their lineup. In an interview with SinBin.Vegas (audio link), owner Bill Foley indicated that Alec Martinez was nearing a return had it not been for the veteran contracting COVID-19. Martinez has been out since mid-November with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss at least 10 days due to his protocol placement, meaning it’s not an asymptomatic case so he won’t return until the middle of next week at the earliest. Martinez and his $5.25 million average annual value are currently on LTIR, and Vegas will likely need to transfer winger Max Pacioretty onto LTIR in order to activate the blueliner back onto the active roster.

Other injury news from around the league:

• Avalanche defenseman Ryan Murray left Friday’s victory over Arizona with an upper-body injury, notes Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. The oft-injured 28-year-old has struggled with Colorado this season, averaging just over 14 minutes per game in 21 contests. The expectation is that Kurtis MacDermid, who had been playing on the wing recently, will now go back to his natural position on the back end to take Murray’s place.
• The Wild could get defenseman Jared Spurgeon and goaltender Cam Talbot back in the lineup for their upcoming home-and-home set against Chicago, suggests Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Those games are slated for Friday and Saturday of next week. Spurgeon has missed the last three weeks with a lower-body injury while Talbot has missed nearly two weeks with a lower-body issue of his own.
• The Capitals announced (Twitter link) that winger T.J. Oshie sustained an upper-body injury in Saturday’s game against the Islanders. It has been a tough season for the veteran from a health perspective as he has already missed time due to three separate injuries while missing a game while in COVID protocol. In between all of those, the 35-year-old has been fairly productive with 13 points in 17 games.