{"id":420145,"date":"2026-01-21T04:59:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/420145\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T04:59:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:59:06","slug":"letang-injured-karlsson-update-jokes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/420145\/","title":{"rendered":"Letang Injured; Karlsson Update & Jokes"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 The highly paid right side of the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 defense<\/a> is suddenly banged up and absent.<\/p>\n

Erik Karlsson has missed the last few games with a lower-body injury. Now, Kris Letang is out with an upper-body injury. Coach Dan Muse<\/a> confirmed only that Letang is out day-to-day. <\/p>\n

Letang did not practce Tuesday. However, Karlsson did practice and might be pressed into duty on Wednesday when the Penguins visit the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good. I wasn\u2019t allowed to take any reps on the power play. That kind of pissed me off,\u201d Karlsson said through laughter. \u201cEverything happens for a reason, but it feels good. It\u2019s nice to be able to skate fairly normally, and hoping it won\u2019t be much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Penguins\u2019 top defenseman capped off a jovial day inside the dressing room. Ben Kindel<\/a> is returning to his junior home (Calgary Hitmen) for the first time, and the team had a resounding win on Monday. <\/p>\n

Though lighthearted about the situation, Karlsson did note the Penguins\u2019 recent success\u2013even earning points while losing\u2013 took the pressure off him to return too soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a lot worse. I don\u2019t feel that bad, you know. I feel like everything is going according to what they told me when it first occurred. It\u2019s something I haven\u2019t dealt with before, but nothing major, so it\u2019s not something that I expect to linger once I do come back,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s not been the most fun. It\u2019s been a while since I was hurt \u2026 but the boys have been doing a great job picking up points in every game, pretty much. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo that keeps me happy and keeps me less itching to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Karlsson had more jokes, and he and Penguins color analyst Colby Armstrong went back and forth, too. Karlsson noted that while he might not play on Wednesday, he\u2019s not on the trip to be a mascot, even the highest-paid mascot in the league. <\/p>\n

Though he didn\u2019t exactly close the door on playing on Wednesday, either. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s too early, but it\u2019s nice to be able to be back in the swing of things here, and I\u2019m on the road trip not to be a mascot,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cBut, you know, I\u2019m hoping that I get to come back and play here soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Karlsson\u2019s absence, defenseman Brett Kulak, who has shown a surprising aptitude for quarterbacking the power play, would take the top unit. <\/p>\n

Lingering about the hallway was defenseman Jack St. Ivany, who was a healthy scratch Monday. St. Ivany and Muse had a conversation post practice. <\/p>\n

The Penguins defenseman admittedly was \u201cmediocre\u201d in his prior couple of games, but the team may need to rely upon him for at least the Alberta games, Wednesday in Calgary and Thursday in Edmonton. <\/p>\n

Ben Kindel<\/p>\n

The Penguins\u2019 18-year-old rookie is returning to his junior home. Kindel played his junior hockey for the Calgary Hitmen, who also play in the Scotiabank Saddledome. <\/p>\n

Kindel didn\u2019t have big plans, but his former teammates checked out practice Tuesday. After all, it\u2019s not every day your former teammate is skating with Sidney Crosby. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be great. It\u2019s another fun stop along the way, one that my family\u2019s had circled for a while,\u201d said Kindel. \u201cSo it\u2019ll be fun to play in front of a lot of home fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season for the Hitmen, Kindel had 99 points, including 35 goals. The Penguins selected him 11th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a homecoming. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like your first NHL game. It\u2019s a bit intimidating,\u201d Kindel said. \u201cI remember playing my first game here a few years ago, so yeah, just got to adjust the same way that you have to adjust to the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kindel got see his buddies Monday night after the Penguins arrived from Seattle. Tuesday night will be dinner and time with his billet family. <\/p>\n

Just another first of many for Kindel. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: erik karlsson<\/a> Kris Letang<\/a> Penguins Practice<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized: Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 The highly paid right side of the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 defense is suddenly banged up and absent.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[3689,123328,385,82778,1790,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-420145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-erik-karlsson","9":"tag-kris-letang","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-penguins-practice","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}