The dark cloud hovering above the Pittsburgh Penguins took another player from their lineup Sunday, but it will give room for a big trade acquisition to make his Penguins debut.
The team announced that winger Justin Brazeau would not play Sunday against the Boston Bruins due to an upper-body injury. In his place, newly acquired Elmer Soderblom will slot into the lineup.
The Penguins acquired Soderblom from the Detroit Red Wings for San Jose’s 2026 third-round pick just before the NHL trade deadline Friday. However, the loss of the 6-foot-6 Brazeau will not decrease the average size of the Penguins’ lineup, but increase it as Soderblom is 6-foot-8, 246 pounds.
“The things that have stood out on him throughout this year have been his ability to forecheck, get in on the forecheck, disrupt pucks, and win pucks back,” general manager Kyle Dubas said Friday. “And I think for us, that’s one thing that we’d identified is … having a little bit more of that throughout the lineup would be good.”
Sidney Crosby?
When the organization announced the severity of Sidney Crosby’s injury suffered during the Olympics, the initial timeline was four weeks. However, in the week-plus since the announcement, Crosby has begun skating and joined the team for practice Friday.
With the impending five-game road trip starting in Carolina before going through the Western Conference (Carolina-Vegas-Utah-Colorado-Carolina), with a positive head nod and quickly stopping himself from definitively saying yes, Muse strongly inferred Crosby will make the trip with the team.
“Obviously, he’s been skating. He skated with the group,” Muse said. “I think all, like I mentioned — I think all, all final decisions will be made afterward (following the game Sunday).
The Penguins are 2-2-2 without Crosby, but will also be without Evgeni Malkin for four more games, including Sunday against Boston, due to Malkin’s five-game suspension for slashing.
Tags: justin brazeau Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby
Categorized:Penguins News