Two of the Pittsburgh Penguins' top players, and two of the best players in the entire NHL, will miss the beginning of training camp, the team announced Thursday.
Centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will both be held out of the beginning of training camp for "precautionary reasons," said Pittsburgh Penguins' Executive Vice President and General Manager Jim Rutherford, due to injuries suffered while preparing for the grueling camp.
The injuries have not been specified by the team, and are said to have happened "probably in the last four or five days."
The Penguins are a renewed team this year, and just brought in a new coach and general manager, so the quicker Malkin and Crosby can get back, the quicker this perennial Stanley Cup contender can get to work on mastering coach Mike Johnston's system.
Johnston didn't seem to think the injuries were serious.
"We'll see over the next few days," he said. "I don't expect any of them to be long [-term]. When the trainers and doctors inform us at this time of year that we'd better be cautious with a few people, we're going to be cautious."
Johnston said that he thought the timetable for the two players' return would be, "very short."
Fortunately for the team, Crosby's injury does not seem to be related to the wrist ailment that plagued him through the end of the season and into the playoffs last year.
Last season, even with the wrist injury, Crosby managed to lead the league with 104 points in 80 games and garnered an MVP nod, while Malkin had a not-too-shabby-at-all 72 points in 60 games.
These two players form the backbone of the team, and if they miss extended time it will be extremely detrimental to the squad's development as they acclimate to a new coach and new system.
