Penguins’ Crosby to miss at least four weeks; Letang off IR
It looks like Captain Canada’s injury might’ve been worse than expected.
On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Sidney Crosby on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. In response, the team has activated defenseman Kris Letang from IR.
Forward Sidney Crosby (lower-body) has been placed on Injured Reserve. Defenseman Kris Letang has been activated from Injured Reserve.
According to the Penguins, Crosby is expected to miss four weeks due to the injury. He was hurt during the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics. Crosby received an awkward hit from Czech defenseman Radko Gudas, knocking him out of the game, effectively ending his run in Milan. Without their captain, Canada ended up losing to the United States in the gold medal game.
The 38-year-old has appeared in all 56 of the Penguins’ games so far this season. He leads the team in goals (27), assists (32) and points (59), 15 points clear of Evgeni Malkin, who has missed 15 games due to injury this year.
With Crosby’s timeline, he will be out of action until the end of March. While the Pens are sitting in a playoff spot, it’ll be interesting to see how general manager Kyle Dubas approaches the trade deadline, and how the team will perform without its leader.
Letang has been out since late last month with a fractured foot. In the last four games that he has missed, Pittsburgh went 2-1-1, beating the Buffalo Sabres in its last game before the Olympic break. In 50 appearances this year, the Montreal native has scored three goals and 22 assists for 25 points.
The Penguins (29-15-12) are second in the Metropolitan Division, eight points behind the first-place Carolina Hurricanes. Pittsburgh returns to play on Thursday night when they host the New Jersey Devils.