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NHL injury roundup: Nugent-Hopkins out; Letang, Brodie nearing returns

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Checking in on some injury news around the NHL on Sunday evening.

Oilers will be without Nugent-Hopkins for at least two games. Shortly before puck drop against the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday night the Edmonton Oilers announced that center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be sidelined for at least the next two games due to a hand injury. He has five goals and 15 total points in 25 games this season for the Oilers. While his overall numbers are down a little offensively this season he has been one of the team’s top offensive players the past few years and helps drive their second line. Without him an already thin forward group gets even thinner. Assuming the two-game time frame remains he would miss Sunday’s game against Arizona as well as Wednesday’s game at Colorado. He could be in line to return for a big home-and-home set with the Vancouver Canucks next weekend.

Letang to be game-time decision for Penguins. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been hit harder by injuries than any other team in the league, but are getting closer to getting one of their top players back in the lineup. Defenseman Kris Letang, who has missed the past eight games, will be a game-time decision for their game against the Calgary Flames on Monday night. In his first 15 games before injury Letang had been averaging more than 25 minutes per game and had already recorded 12 points (four goals, eight assists) on the season. With Justin Schultz also sidelined the Penguins have been playing with a patchwork defense but have still found ways to collect points. They are also currently playing without captain Sidney Crosby and forward Nick Bjugstad due to injury. Crosby, Letang, Schultz, Evgeni Malkin, Jared McCann, Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin, Patrick Hornqvist, Alex Galchenyuk, and Bjugstad have combined to miss more than 70 man games due to injury. The Penguins are still 12-7-4 on the season while their underlying numbers in terms of shot attempts, scoring chances, and expected goals are among the best in the league. They also have one of the best goal differentials in the entire league.

Brodie will also be game-time decision for Flames. Some great news for Calgary Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie. As long as he gets medical clearance on Monday, he is expected to be back in the lineup when they visit the Penguins on Monday. Brodie has been sidelined after collapsing at practice more than 10 days ago. He was back skating by himself this past week as he continued to undergo tests to figure out what caused his collapse, but so far everything has come back negative and all indications in his recovery have been promising. The Flames snapped what had been a six-game losing streak on Saturday with a shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.