It remains to be seen whether the Pittsburgh Penguins have to play any games without the nonpareil talents of forward Sidney Crosby as they emerge from the Olympic break.
But they appear to be fully preparing themselves for the possibility.
With Crosby hobbled by a presumed right leg injury that sidelined him for the final two games of the Olympic tournament for Canada, the Penguins recalled rookie forward Avery Hayes from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Monday.
And during Monday’s practice session in Cranberry, Hayes skated on the left wing of a line with Rickard Rakell, typically the port-side winger of the top line, filling in for Crosby at center.
Penguins coach Dan Muse largely labeled those deployments as contingency plans if Crosby is sidelined for the Penguins once they resume playing Thursday.
“The way we are right now in terms of the other lines, it’s something that we want to see,” Muse said. “It’s also — (with Hayes) coming up right now — he’s been playing really well. We’ve got a couple of practice days. We’ll wait and get more information once (Crosby) gets back.”
Muse declined to offer any kind of substantive update about Crosby’s status. In reality, one might not have been available as of Monday morning, as Crosby and several of his Canadian teammates (as well as members of the United States squad) were still trekking back from Italy following Sunday’s gold medal game.
He labeled Crosby’s absence Monday as a travel day while offering little in the way of the Penguins captain’s well-being.
“There’s still more information that we need to get,” Muse said. “There’s a couple more days here before we play a game.”
A few of Crosby’s teammates were a bit more forthright in acknowledging the possibility their most important player might not be available for Thursday’s home contest against the New Jersey Devils.
“Hopefully, he’s all right and he can come back here,” defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “Get a little bit of rest. Then once he comes back, whenever that is, he’ll be right back on the horse, which I’m sure he’ll be.”
The Penguins are scheduled to have a day off Tuesday. As such, Wednesday may be the earliest an update on Crosby’s status is issued.
Crosby last missed an NHL game Feb. 8, 2025. Since then, he has appeared in 81 consecutive contests, the longest such active streak with the Penguins.
Sans Crosby, the Penguins’ lines and pairings on Monday were:
59 Egor Chinakhov – 18 Tommy Novak – 71 Evgeni Malkin
85 Avery Hayes – 67 Rickard Rakell – 17 Bryan Rust
39 Anthony Mantha – 81 Ben Kindel – 16 Justin Brazeau
19 Connor Dewar – 46 Blake Lizotte – 55 Noel Acciari
28 Parker Wotherspoon – 65 Erik Karlsson
77 Brett Kulak – 58 Kris Letang
5 Ryan Shea – 75 Connor Clifton
27 Ryan Graves – 7 Ilya Solovyov
The top power-play unit — minus Crosby — included Karlsson, Malkin, Mantha, Rakell and Rust. The second power-play unit involved Brazeau, Chinakhov, Kindel, Letang and Novak.
Karlsson resumes practicing
One Olympian who rejoined the Penguins for practice was Karlsson, an alternate captain for Sweden during the tournament.
He came back from Europe sporting a new look as he discarded most of his trademark facial hair.
“My daughter asked me to shave, so I shaved,” Karlsson said. “I don’t think she really realized what that entailed, but I did.”
Karlsson and Sweden finished in seventh place of the 12-team tournament, a disappointing result for a squad considered a threat for the gold medal.
What didn’t go well for Karlsson and company?
“Tough to say,” said Karlsson, a two-time Olympian. “A lot of things. A short tournament like that, you’ve got to get together as a group fast and make things work, both individually and as a team. Obviously, we didn’t really reach the potential that we had. That’s unfortunate. But unfortunately, sometimes that’s the way it is. Not everybody can win.
“Obviously, not the result that we wanted. Very devastated in that aspect. But overall, something that we’ll cherish for a long time. We had a blast.”
