Playing without key and superstar players has been baked into the Penguins DNA since the Mario Lemieux days. Unfortunately, 2021-22 will be more of the same in Pittsburgh; we already knew Evgeni Malkin was not going to be playing at the beginning of the season. Now Sidney Crosby had surgery yesterday on an ailing wrist, which poses a threat to miss regular season games if his six week minimum timeline holds true.
So, what now? It looks like it’s going to have to be an internal solution to hold tight until the star centers are back.
“We can’t add a big-dollar player here, because they’re both going to be back,” GM Ron Hextall said yesterday.