Five NHL teams that need injury luck on their side in 2026-27

Toronto Maple Leafs need their superstar

Auston Matthews missed 37 games over the last two seasons, but still scored 60 goals. Prorated, that's 38.7 goals per 82 games. That would have been top 20 in the league last season, but Matthews is such a prolific scorer that this is a full 15 goals per 82 games fewer than the first eight seasons of his career.

Toronto doesn't just need Matthews in games. It needs the version of Matthews that made the world think he was the successor to Alex Ovechkin as the league's best goal scorer. 

New Jersey Devils need Jack Hughes on the ice

An unhealthy Jack Hughes is like clockwork these days. The Devils haven't found a way to keep him on the ice consistently, and they're still looking for the type of center who can more comfortably step into his minutes if he does go down. The Devils tried to address this by signing Utah center Barrett Hayton to an offer sheet, but Utah matched.

All-time, the Devils are 40-55-11 when Hughes isn't in the lineup, according to StatMuse. He's missed a remarkably consistent 20, 20 and 21 games in the past three seasons. New Jersey is 24-35-2 in that stretch. That's a prorated 67-point pace, which would have earned it a top-five draft pick in all three of those seasons.

New York Rangers double down on injury-troubled right-handed defenseman

The New York Rangers are playing a dangerous game. They correctly identified that the team had a real problem without superstar defenseman Adam Fox last season. The Rangers were 8-16-3 without Fox, and their power play suffered as a result. 

For the Rangers, the acquisition of Sean Durzi gives them a legitimately good puck-moving defenseman to play on the second pair behind Fox. And, in theory, Durzi can also run the top power-play unit if Fox goes down. The issue is that Durzi has missed 84 games in the past two seasons, meaning the Rangers' insurance policy might need an insurance policy.

Florida Panthers are hoping Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov are ready to go

The Panthers lost more man-games to injury than any other team in the league, an astonishing 111 more than the next closest team (Buffalo). That included 18 games without forwards Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell, 30 games without winger Brad Marchand, 51 games without Matthew Tkachuk and all 82 from captain Aleksander Barkov. 

Barkov and Tkachuk are Florida's two most important forwards. The latter has only played 83 regular-season games over the past two years. It's easy to forget that Tkachuk is maybe the most offensively gifted power forward of his generation. Barkov, meanwhile, plays the hardest minutes while still producing at a better-than-point-per-game level for five consecutive seasons.

Pittsburgh Penguins continue to fight Father Time

Sidney Crosby missed 14 games last season, during which the Penguins were 5-6-3. Evgeni Malkin missed 26 games last season. Pittsburgh went 10-10-6 in those games. It's the fifth time both players have missed 10 or more games since first playing together in 2006. 

Malkin turns 40 later in July. Crosby turns 39 in August. It's more likely that's a sign of things to come rather than an aberration. The Penguins need it to be the latter to compete for a playoff spot.