The Pittsburgh Penguins return from the Olympic break sitting second in the Metropolitan Division with a 29-15-12 record, but facing a steep hill toward clinching a playoff spot following Wednesday's news.
Shortly before practice on Wednesday, the Penguins confirmed the unfortunate news regarding their captain, forward Sidney Crosby, who arrived injured off the 2026 Olympics.
The Penguins announced that Crosby has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury sustained while playing for Team Canada. The injury already prevented him from playing in both the semifinals and the gold-medal game.
“Forward Sidney Crosby (lower-body) has been placed on Injured Reserve,” the Penguins said in a statement. “Crosby is expected to miss a minimum of four weeks.”
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Crosby suffered the injury during Canada’s 4-3 overtime quarterfinal win over Czechia on Feb. 18, when he collided with defenseman Radko Gudas in the neutral zone and fell awkwardly to the ice.
Team Canada's captain did not play in the semifinal against Finland or the 2-1 overtime loss to Team USA in the gold-medal game.
Meeting reporters at UPMC Lemieux Complex, Crosby addressed the play directly.
“I don’t have a problem with the play. I think he was trying to be physical and step up and play hard defense,” Crosby said. “And it just went the wrong way, as far as my end of it. I don’t think he should feel the need to reach out or anything like that.”
Despite the four-week timeline for his return to action with the Penguins, Crosby said on Wednesday that he was actually very close to returning for the final against the USA.
“I was a lot closer than I thought to playing in the gold-medal game,” Crosby said. “A day or two after (the injury), I didn’t think it was necessarily going to be an option. So the fact that I even had a chance, or close to it, the staff there was unbelievable. Dr. (Dharmesh Vyas) here was really helpful too. But unfortunately, it’s just, you know, it wasn’t, wasn’t something I could do.”
Crosby, however, declined to share specifics about the injury.
“I probably could... but probably won’t,” Crosby said when asked about it.
The 38-year-old leads Pittsburgh with 59 points in 56 games this season and is expected to miss around 15 contests during his absence. The Penguins host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.