The Pittsburgh Penguins have suffered another injury to their forward corps. Before the team took the ice for practice, the Penguins announced that Elmer Söderblom is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Fortunately, Pittsburgh won’t host the Utah Mammoth for a few days, so Söderblom could return to the lineup on Thursday. The 6’8″ winger has registered one assist in six games for the Penguins this season, averaging 11:25 of ice time.
Furthermore, Söderblom is arguably Pittsburgh’s top defensive forward, averaging a 92.3% on-ice SV% at even strength.
Still, if Söderblom isn’t healthy enough to return on Thursday, the Penguins will likely recall some reinforcements. Pittsburgh already has three forwards on the injured reserve and was also without Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakhov in their most recent contest against the Nashville Predators.
Additional injury notes from the Metro:
Although it was previously believed that Carolina Hurricanes forward Mark Jankowski would not play against the Boston Bruins tonight, that’s no longer true. After practice this morning, Jankowski told North State Journal’s Cory Lavalette that he is “good to go” for tonight.
Still, Carolina didn’t confirm whether he will re-enter the lineup. Regardless, it’s a positive sign that Jankowski has fully recovered from his lower-body injury.
Back in Pittsburgh, the Penguins received good news at practice this morning. Less than a week after being hospitalized for a vasovagal episode, Pittsburgh shared that forward Benjamin Kindel returned to practice this morning.
Given his recent hospitalization, there’s no firm timeline for Kindel’s recovery.