It has been the best of times and the worst of times for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The good news is that players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are healthy now. Their goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury has been remarkably durable all year. There is one problem however. Despite one of the best records in the NHL, Pittsburgh has had the injury bug visit them an awful lot. The fantasy hockey impacts have been good, bad, and ugly all rolled into one.
When you take a look at this injury list, just be thankful you did not see it at its worst. At one juncture, the Pittsburgh Penguins had thirteen players either injured or ill.
Here is the current list which looked like it might shrink down to a reasonable level before the Olympics but has headed back in the upward direction once again.
Penguins “On Ice”
- Tomas Vokoun — Injured reserve with blood clot in hip
- Beau Bennett — Injured reserve still recovering from wrist surgery
- Pascal Dupuis — Out for season after right knee surgery
- Kris Letang — Recovering from stroke — still out at least another month.
- Chris Conner — Rehabbing still after hand surgery
- Joe Vitale — still out since 1/11 with sprained wrist
- Taylor Pyatt — Day to day with lower body soreness
- Paul Martin — out at least 4-6 weeks with a hand injury
Can you just say ouch? Again, despite that, there are actual fantasy shockers on the Pittsburgh roster. The biggest one may be Matt Niskanen who has over 30 points and is a league leading +29 on the season. His defensive play has actually been one of the reasons why the Pittsburgh Penguins have not skipped a beat despite the loss of manpower, especially from the blue line. Chris Conner is about a week away from practicing while Joe Vitale and Taylor Pyatt should be good to go on Thursday. That is the good news.
Then there is the bad news with the Beau Bennett setback. Bennett had been progressing but is now expected to be out at least 3-4 more weeks. There is a chance that he might be out the rest of the regular season.
This is the official word:
Beau Bennett had a setback. 3-4 week timetable. More a “bump in the road,” per #Pens coach Bylsma
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 25, 2014
Apparently, some in the Pittsburgh organization are wondering if Bennett will ever fully be able to stay healthy. Time will tell.
Then it gets ugly with the Kris Letang news. Strokes can take a long time to come back from so it is something that will need to be monitored. Paul Martin just seemingly cannot stay healthy. His latest hand injury will keep him out at least a month, maybe more. Martin returned just before the Olympics and then got hurt during the Czech Republic game. Martin was sorely missed against Canada and Finland. Now Penguin fans will once again wonder how the defensive holes will be filled.
In this crazy year, will more Penguins succumb to injury? If they are on your fantasy hockey team, I would be very wary.
