The Most Injured NHL Teams in 2024-25

Courtesy of data collected by NHL Injury Viz, RotoWire's NHL analysis have workshopped a methodology for compiling a ranking of professional hockey's most injury-plagued teams of the 2024-25 season. Two key metrics are focal to this analysis: Man-Games Lost (total games missed due to injury/illness) and Total Injuries. Man-Games Lost served as the highest-weighted factor in determining the severity of injury impact on NHL teams.  

Methodology:

• Data Source
  • All used data has been sourced from NHL Injury Viz, which does a phenomenal job tracking injuries, illnesses, and games missed across all NHL teams each season.
• Metrics
  • Man-Games Lost: Total count of games missed by players due to health issues (injury and illness). 
  • Total Injuries: Number of distinct injury/illness events that resulted in missed games. 
• Exclusions
  • Players in the "medically retired" category prior to the 2024-25 season were excluded from all metrics. 
  • Non-injury absences (suspensions, healthy scratches, personal reasons) were not included among injury data. 
• Ranking Method
  • Teams were ranked primarily by Man-Games Lost, with the count of Total Injuries acting as a secondary metric to provide additional context on injury volume. 

NHL Teams with the Most Injuries in 2024-25

Impact of Injuries on NHL Team Performance

On the injury front alone, the Sharks will be a candidate for enough positive regression to improve upon a near bottom-of-the-league finish, but this team's top nine remains rough. It seems most sensible for the San Jose to select Michael Misa at No. 2 overall in a few short days, though Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports that the team has recently been linked to center Anton Frondell with the second pick in the draft. That would be a haymaker, but at 18 years old and boasting the sort of physicality the Sharks direly need, the team could see Frondell as a superior long-term solution -- but this is more believable as a smokescreen. Whichever route San Jose goes at No. 2 overall, this team need to go the further mile of bringing in additional dependable contributors. 

The Leafs' season looks all the more impressive given the awful injury luck the team endured, though winning the Atlantic is small compensation for having fallen to the reigning champion Panthers in the second round of the playoffs. While Toronto's ability to overcome injury adversity is some cause for optimism, it no longer looks like a sure thing that this nine-year playoff streak is extended another season. This will be one of the NHL's oldest rosters come October, a factor that likely contributed to last season's high Total Injuries count, and the ripple effect of Mitch Marner's departure could be too powerful a disruption to the Leafs' offensive structure to be compensated for, unless Toronto is able to perfectly maneuver in the draft. 

Both the Capitals and Golden Knights deserve accolades for outperforming the hands they were respectively dealt by injuries. It's true that Vegas needs to hit on depth in the 2025 Draft, but this is a roster that may just be one true home run away — which should motivate strong pursuit of Mitch Marner — from entering the mix as a top-5 contender. For Washington, it helped tremendously to see Tom Wilson fully recovered from his ACL tear, but this roster has more glaring needs, not the least of which is the gradual decline of Alex Ovechkin, and the undefeated record of Father Time.  For what it's worth, though, the 39-year-old did put together a healthy 2024-25 campaign (only missing time due to maintenance rest). 

While the Panthers did, admittedly, benefit from some injury luck last season, besting the Oilers to defend their Stanley Cup for a second consecutive season puts the team beyond much reproach. This is a roster with the depth to withstand a worse year of injury attrition, if it comes to it, especially with Mackie Samoskevich having flashed and potentially ready to take a step forward. Edmonton, on the other hand, have tangible injury-related concerns -- most pressingly, for the team's investment in Trent Frederic (including a pending long-term contract) to pay off, he'll absolutely need make a full, setback-free recovery from the ankle injury he dealt with during the playoffs. 

The biggest question looming over Colorado after last season's injury challenges is what role, exactly, Gabriel Landeskog can be realistically expected to fill for 2025-26. His return for the playoffs from a nearly three-year absence was equal parts inspiring and encouraging, and while there's no exact reason to suspect that injury will remain a bugaboo for Landeskog, it's no sure thing that he can maintain both that level of play and availability over the course of a full seasons.