Pens Lose Neal and Staal Indefinitley; Also Adams Hurt In Practice

[thepolishkid88]

When it rains it pours. The Penguins received some more bad news on the injury front Sunday.

Center Jordan Staal is out 4-6 weeks with a knee injury after he collided knee-on-knee with Rangers forward Mike Rupp Friday night, according to head coach Dan Bylsma. Staal will not need surgery.

Neal and Staal will both be out of the lineup for weeks.

Forward James Neal, who leads the team with 21 goals, will be out indefinitely with a broken foot. Bylsma said it will be "weeks, not days."

Neal was hit by a shot late in the third period Saturday night against New Jersey.

"Jordan Staal has a knee injury, 4-6 weeks at this point it looks like depending on recovery time for him," Bylsma said. "James Neal in (Saturday) night’s game late in the game received a shot to the foot, broke his foot. The next few days we’ll see what that timetable looks like, but it’s weeks, not days at this point."

Craig Adams "stressed a previous injury" during Sunday's practice. He fell awkwardly to the ice and needed assistance to the locker room. Bylsma said he will be "further evaluated (Monday)."

The Pens have suffered 210 man-games lost this season to injury, including missing key players like Sidney Crosby (32 games), Zbynek Michalek (20), Kris Letang (16), Evgeni Malkin (7), Staal (6) and Paul Martin (6).

The Pens injuries were so bad that at one point, the team had $28 million dollars in player salary out of the lineup due to injuries.

The Pens are on pace for 431 man-games lost, which would eclipse the devastating 350 lost last season.

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=610634

[thepolishkid88]

I can't wait to watch the WBS Penguins...

The only saving grace of this is that the Pens might actually be fun to watch again. Hoping Veilleux and Sill get recalled and get paired with Vitale. Also could mean some more time for Mac...maybe 2 mintes of playing time.

No Sid, Staal, Neal, Letang, Adams, Asham, Bortuzzo, Jeffrey...etc, etc, etc. The true stamp on this year so far is that Steve Sullivan is about 1 of 4 guys who have yet to be hurt. His time is coming.

[Big Violence]

The Pens are done. Malkin is a great player but he's not gonna be able to carry a team full of minor leaguers. This is so frustrating. 2 straight injury filled seasons.

[Kid Roberts]

I don't even know what to say anymore...There is no way that they're making the playoff's now.

[thepolishkid88]

Still think the Pens make the playoffs. Shero will make a deal or two and hopefully inject some life into this team. Regardless of being healthy or not this team for whatever reason can not score.

I will say that this team could go far in a wide open East still. You still have Fluery in net and a solid D, we saw how that has helped teams like the Habs and Lightning in going far by making the game simple.

[FightingIsGood]

Good that you have faith, TPK, but we are done like dinner. Hopefully next season they'll be able to stay healthy for more than a week and get back into the playoffs.

[thepolishkid88]

Originally Posted by FightingIsGood

Good that you have faith, TPK, but we are done like dinner. Hopefully next season they'll be able to stay healthy for more than a week and get back into the playoffs.

Even with all these injuries I see them proably making 8th or 7th seed. Problem is we don't know what this team will look like tomorrow. For all we know Shero might have a steal of a deal in his hand. I just will wait and reserve judgement until after the deadline.

I will say a scoring winger or two and that could be a big help. As far as staying healthy...that's proably the biggest reach of them all.

[canuckfan]

When it rains, it pours. Brutal luck for the Penguins this year.

[JeanLaRose]

Originally Posted by canuckfan

When it rains, it pours. Brutal luck for the Penguins this year.

its been happening for the last 2 years, sids comeback game was the first time we've seen all the cogs in the machine running together since the cup season... other than that at least one major player has been injured for the better part of 3 years.

[Killah_punk]

I guess this keeps MacIntyre from getting waived for a while.

[ARCTICCAT24]

Thats what they get for not dressing MacIntyre.

[Killah_punk]

Originally Posted by ARCTICCAT24

Thats what they get for not dressing MacIntyre.

He was dressed last game and 2 Pens still got hurt.

[Kid Roberts]

Originally Posted by ARCTICCAT24

Thats what they get for not dressing MacIntyre.

What? MacIntyre has been dressed.

[thepolishkid88]

Originally Posted by ARCTICCAT24

Thats what they get for not dressing MacIntyre.

Because Mac should fighting the puck that broke Neal's foot, and Niskanen for running into Adams. Oh yeah...

Even Staal's was an accident, Rupp didn't mean any harm.

[Sukoshi84]

Maybe this means they'll play Mac more than 2 shifts for a whopping 35 seconds.

it'll be interesting to see what happens come Tuesday with a very willing Sens team!