Hey, welcome back to reality. The Winter Olympics are over and that means the players who participated in Italy will be arriving back to North America to rejoin their NHL teams. This means we will have some Pittsburgh Penguins hockey to talk about in the very near future.
Rickard Rakell was at practice yesterday and Erik Karlsson is due back today in Pittsburgh. As for Sidney Crosby…
Olympic fallout for Sid
Everybody knows that Sidney Crosby is currently hurt. His inability to play in the Gold Medal game is one of the biggest stories from the 2026 games. You know the injury is significant if he couldn’t get to a point where he was willing to give it a go against the Americans. Crosby had the resources of an entire country looking for creative ways to make sure his lower body injury (likely knee) could handle the rigors of a high stress high energy game.
This was obviously devastating to Crosby. There’s nothing more he wanted than to play in this game. The Penguins haven’t exactly been beating down the door for the Stanley Cup. This was supposed to be his moment to play for glory, again.
However, in this moment of great frustration, Sidney Crosby once again showed why he is one of the best leaders in all of sport. His selflessness and commitment to the greater good led to him taking himself out of the game so that someone else, who could actually play, would get that opportunity. A far cry from Matthew Tkachuk in the 4 Nations tournament playing through an injury and being highly ineffective with his 6:47 of ice time.
Given that Sid didn’t give it a go in the Gold Medal I am expecting to hear that he will be missing a good amount of time for the Penguins. I would anticipate a 4-6 week absence. I’d love to be wrong and have it be sooner, but it had to be serious enough to keep him from one of the most important games of his career, and potentially his last ever Olympic appearance.
We should get more information soon on his injury.
Well deserved promotion
Over the weekend the Penguins promoted someone from WB/S. That player is none other than Avery Hayes. After scoring two goals in his NHL debut against the Sabres he is playing with a high level of confidence. His opposition in the AHL has been on the wrong end of that confidence.
In his five games with WB/S since the NHL debut he has 7 points in five games, including two hat tricks.
He forced the big club to take notice and they have. He has more than earned some additional NHL time. I think this is exactly what you want to see from your younger players. Force the organization’s hand by playing great and he has.
I know the fourth line has been very good this year. It is the best fourth line play this team has gotten in forever. That said, I don’t think you should ignore ways to improve the team even if current members are playing well.
The fact of the matter is that Noel Acciari isn’t a long term option for this team. He is a 34 year old depth player. I think someone like Avery Hayes is exactly the kind of candidate to come in and take ice time away from Acciari. Hayes is faster and has more offensive upside. Acciari is a veteran player who might have some interest from other playoff teams as the deadline approaches.
For now, it appears Hayes will get a taste of the top six with Sidney Crosby out of the lineup. Regardless of where Hayes slides into the lineup I think he might be looking for an apartment in the near future. His AHL year might be in the rear view mirror and deservingly so.
The next time the Penguins are in action they will be hosting the New Jersey Devils. This of course means that Olympic hero Jack Hughes will be in the house. Given that the Pittsburgh faithful gave Ryan Miller a hero’s welcome after he carried the team to a Silver Medal, I have to imagine Hughes will be given an enormous show of support.
