You know those players that are often tagged with the phrase “high risk, high reward?” Well, we understand how frustrating dealing with an injury prone player can be, so it may be worth noting some of the more injury prone players that make tremendous fantasy impacts when healthy. If you own any of these players, you may be wise to sell them off when they are healthy and producing to ensure you don’t get burned in the end:

Martin Havlat – Chicago
If Havlat could go through an entire season without getting hurt, I would argue that he could easily be in the top 10 in scoring. The fact of the matter is that Havlat has never played a full season in the NHL and it appears that he ever will. The closest he has ever come to playing a season in its entirety was in 2003-2004 with the Senators. He played 68 games. He had 68 points. So far so good this season with Martin. He is a point per game thus far and has helped Chicago get off to a rock solid start. With that being said, now would be a perfect time to trade him. A smart manager would play the percentages and move him before his tradability takes a dive because of a long term injury.

Marian Gaborik – Minnesota
When Gaborik is healthy, he is easily one of the most talented and dangerous players in the league. He’s only played 2 games this season and the timetable for his return is up in the air right now. Trade rumors are swirling around Gabby right now but it’s hard to move a player like Gaborik knowing that he has some health issues. I would be really surprised to see Marian in Minnesota at the end of the season. Then again, that all depends on his health. It also makes things extremely interesting for managers who own Gaborik and those savvy enough to look past his health for a low buy. Gabby owners certainly are frustrated as I’m sure nearly every manager who drafted him was expecting to use him as a number one right winger. For managers who are in a comfortable position in their league and have a few extra players to throw around might want to consider making a play for Gaborik and stashing him until he comes back. No matter where he ends up, he’ll be a number one, so if you have some wiggle room to take on an injured player, it could be worth it down the road. It’s certainly a ::sigh:: high risk, high reward situation.

Tim Connolly – Buffalo
A series of concussions have made this crafty center a serious fantasy liability. If Connolly remained healthy for even 75 games, he could easily attain a point per game performance. The Sabres have adopted the idea of using Tim on the point for their first power play unit and it has rendered solid results thus far. If Connolly can stick around for a few games here, it may not be bad putting him in a package and shipping him off to another team. One more big hit on Connolly and it could be curtains for his NHL career.

Rick DiPietro – New York Islanders
It’s difficult to look past the fact that it’s such a monster contract for what’s turning out to be such a fragile player. DP is done for an extended period once again and it definitely puts the Islanders franchise in perspective. They have DP between the pipes for another decade or so and if these kinds of injuries are going to be frequent throughout his career, the Islanders are going to have their hands full. For those of you in year-to-year leagues, it certainly is a pain having to deal with finding a comparable replacement. For those of you who may have DP in keeper leagues, you’re in an extremely difficult position and should consider adding a prospect goaltender that could make an appearance next season. Have a look through the team breakdowns and make note of some of the goalie prospects on the radar. Keep an eye on news surrounding them as the season progresses and figure out what players may be worth adding to your roster. We will do a prospects post at the end of the season to get managers in keeper/dynasty leagues up to date on all the players worth going after in the off-season.

Manny Fernandez – Boston
If Tim Thomas is looking to maintain the starting position in Boston, he may just have to stay healthy. Manny Fernandez, who has a long history of knee related injuries, has missed significant playing time over his career, including pretty much all of last season after having surgery early on. He’s doing well so far this season but he is still playing in the shadow of Thomas, who is one of the best goaltenders in the league right now. It’s difficult to trade a “backup” goaltender, however, if you have a manager in your league who is struggling in the goaltending department, it might not be a terrible play if you offer up Fernandez for a comparable player from his or her team. Just make sure that you’re set between the pipes before you go throwing Manny around.

Ryan Smyth – Colorado
I can honestly say that Ryan Smyth has some of the worst luck when it comes to injuries that I’ve ever seen. Smyth catches fluke injuries that put him on the shelf for extended periods of time. He’s one of the toughest, hardest working, most gritty players in the NHL and his injury report unfortunately backs that up. He is off to a good start to the season but it’s hard to put much stock in players from Colorado that aren’t named Stastny or Hejduk. He’s worth hanging on to because he’ll play all facets of the game but don’t be surprised if he catches something flukey at some point this season.

Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh
Believe it or not, we’re slowly learning that Sid the Kid could be a little more injury prone than some originally thought (or hoped). For fantasy purposes, it would be a huge kick in the pants if Crosby did go down, however, center is a deep enough position where you could pick up a decent flyer until he returned from his injury. There was some question last week about whether or not he was playing hurt, but those rumors have been dispelled for the time being. Worth trading? Certainly that one can’t be answered in general, but rather on a team-by-team basis.

Justin Williams – Carolina
JWill has caught some fairly serious injuries over the past 2 seasons and it makes us wonder if his value is somewhat tarnished by these unfortunate incidents. In the 2 full seasons that he has actually played with the ‘Canes, he was able to put up extremely productive totals and when he returns to action sometime in the new year, should go back to being Carolina’s number one option at right wing. His timetable for return right now is anytime between January and March, so if you’re stashing him or plan on making a move for him, you have some time to do so. Consider him a point per game when he is healthy, however, we will find out in the next year or so whether this is just bad luck or the start of a trend.

Joni Pitkanen – Carolina
He’s a great powerplay quarterback when healthy, but he has never played a full season in the NHL in his 4 year career and he has already gone down once this season. He has a great offensive mindset and can certainly be a number one fantasy option, however, you’ll have to come to accept him going down once or twice a season. He’ll be back within the next week or so, so now may be the time to make a play for him and hopefully he’ll continue where he left off almost a month ago.

Other notables include: Scott Walker, Joe Sakic, Matt Cullen, Manny Legace, and Steve Sullivan