When it rains, it pours. The Pittsburgh Penguins reported three new injuries on Thursday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been struck with some bad news. Again. This time, the team reported three more players had suffered upper body injuries.
Bryan Rust – Upper body (longer term)
Chad Ruhwedel – Upper body (week-to-week)
Matt Murray – Upper body (day-to-day)
Kris Letang and Justin Schultz were both previously listed as injured as well.
That’s a lot of players that are hurting. At least one per position if you want to look at it that way. The Penguins depth is going to be tested, which is not exactly what the doctor ordered (medicine joke +1).
Bryan Rust has been a Swiss army knife for Mike Sullivan, playing on all four lines during the 2017-2018 campaign. He led all full time Pens in SAT %, and played in both special team scenarios.
Chad Ruhwedel has seen his minutes increase over the course of the season. This is partly because of the Ian Cole trade rumors and reported strained relationship with Sullivan.
Matt Murray is of course the number one goalie on the depth chart. Like the Pens, he hasn’t been great, sporting a .904 SV % and a 2.94 GAA.
The three above, plus Letang and Schultz, leave some huge holes in the Pens lineup.
Next: Letang misses practice, Twitter implodes
Filling in
With Rust out, Dominik Simon will likely be plugged into the rotation. But maybe this could be enough reason for Jim Rutherford to finally call up Daniel Sprong.
Frank Corrado seems like the probable choice to step up in for Ruhwedel. Corrado registered three shots in three contests this season.
With Matt Murray out, Tristan Jarry will shoulder the load. And we’ll get to see newly acquired Michael Leigh-
So per @TomVenesky - Leighton is not available to back up Jarry. This is seriously something else. Yikes
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) December 28, 2017
Welp. I guess not. Penguins take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, it will be interesting to see how they deal with this adversity.