Pittsburgh Penguins: More Join Injured List and Staal Has a Set Back- UPDATED

Another bump in the road for the Penguins happened this morning when Jordan Staal left the ice with an upper-body injury only half an hour into practice. 

It had been rumored Staal would be making his season debut within the next few weeks, possibly even on this week’s road trip.  Staal returned to practices in early October after complications from a post-season injury during the Penguins’ Round 2 series against the Montreal Canadiens.

After practice, coach Dan Bylsma addressed the media about Staal’s early departure.

“Jordan left the ice with an upper-body injury and is getting evaluated right now," he said.

Also put on the injured list for the Penguins during the weekend were Evgeni Malkin, who left the Flyers game early on Friday, and Kris Letang, who was injured on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

“They are still day-to-day. When I spoke to you all before the game at Carolina, I hoped to see ‘Geno’ on the ice, so he is still day-to-day. Same thing with Tanger.  I hope to see both playing in Dallas on Wednesday, but we’ll have to wait and see.” Bylsma said during his after practice media conference. 

Alex Goligoski is also day-to-day, according to the coach, after it was said he was only taking maintenance days when he skipped practice last week.

“There is nothing new on him today," said Bylsma. "We are hoping to see all the (injured) guys play. You never want to have three guys who are day-to-day like that. We’ll make an adjustment tomorrow whether we bring somebody up or not.”

With some of the strongest players on the team potentially out of play, will Pittsburgh struggle until they return or will new stars be born?

The Penguins next game is Wednesday at 8:00pm EST against the Dallas Stars.  It will be broadcast on Penguins Radio and FSN-Pittsburgh.

Update on Staal: Staal will be undergoing surgery for a fractured right hand tomorrow and could miss up to six weeks.