CRANBERRY, Pa. -- It figures to be another month or so before Sidney Crosby returns to the Penguins' lineup.
He is, after all, recovering from surgery Nov. 13 to repair a sports hernia, and the projected recovery time was a minimum of six weeks.
And while it remains to be seen precisely how long Crosby will remain sidelined, it's safe to assume that Mike Sullivan will pencil him into the next game's lineup within milliseconds of that clearance being given.
He is, after all, still the Penguins' No. 2 scorer in 2019-20, despite missing more than a quarter of the season. Never mind that he was being praised more for his two-way play than his point production.
Although Crosby has not done any formal interviews since his surgery, he's had several casual interactions with reporters and invariably seems to be upbeat when those happen.
That dovetails with Sullivan's assessment after practice today that Crosby's spirits are "really good" lately.
"He's been around the team," Sullivan said. "Obviously, it's hard for any player -- especially him, in particular, who loves to be on the ice -- but under the circumstances, he's in real good spirits."
There will, of course, be a sweater hanging in Crosby's dressing-room stall as soon as he's allowed to resume playing, and his teammates will be delighted to have him back.
But that won't necessarily be because they need him to be competitive. It turns out that while Crosby is irreplaceable, he's not indispensable.
Counter-intuitive as it might seem, the Penguins historically have fared quite well when Crosby has been unavailable because of an injury, and this season has been no exception.
They enter their game against the Canucks Wednesday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena with a 3-1-3 record in the seven games he has missed in 2019-20. That puts their all-time record during the regular season when he's out of the lineup -- whether it's because of a concussion or mumps, a fractured jaw or simply some late-season rest -- at 100-55-23.
Project that over an 82-game season, and it's a 103-point pace. That's three more than the Penguins earned in 2018-19, and just one fewer than Washington accumulated en route to winning the Metropolitan Division.
So while no one disputes -- or should, anyway -- that Crosby is the catalyst for just about everything this team has accomplished since he broke into the NHL in 2005, their record since then is irrefutable evidence that they've consistently found ways to compensate for his absence.
Which illustrates that they recognize that things could get quite unpleasant if they didn't.
"There have been times when he's been out of the lineup and other guys have had to step up, and they've done that in the past," Brian Dumoulin said. "And it's no different now. The way we know we have to play, and the identity we've established as the Pittsburgh Penguins, regardless of who's in the lineup, we feel like we can win any game."
Evgeni Malkin's penchant for elevating his game when Crosby is out has been well-documented, but Malkin, who has eight points in the seven games Crosby has missed since his surgery, can't be expected to singlehandedly fill the void caused by his absence.
"He brings so much to our lineup that it's hard to replace with any one or two players," Bryan Rust said."Everybody has to step up."
They likely will have to keep doing that for another month or so, although no firm timetable for Crosby to return has been announced. And the Penguins are, as usual, being extremely guarded about how much injury-related information they release.
"I'd rather not get into specifics of where he's at (in his recovery), but what I can tell you is that he's in a rehab process," Sullivan said. "He's in a recovery process. It's a daily endeavor for him, and we'll just trust that process."
And also trust that whenever he returns, Crosby will reclaim his place among finest two-way contributors in the game.
That is why chances are pretty slim that Jim Rutherford will ship him off to another club for, say, a conditional seventh-round draft anytime soon. And not only because, as Dumoulin joked, "you can't trade him while he's hurt."
"I'm not sure about that trade," Rust said. "He might need to get about 12 first-rounders for him."
Also today:
• Sullivan does not, as a matter of course, publicly identify his starting goaltender until the day of a game, so it's not realistic to expect him to detail his long-term plans for how he plans to use his goalies. It seems possible, though, that Tristan Jarry's strong play so far this season might lead to more playing time for him than originally anticipated, and that a challenge like that could lead to Matt Murray elevating his game, as well. "I've always been a believer that healthy competition is a good thing," Sullivan said. "Internal competition is a good thing for all of us, because it keeps all of us at our best."
• Sullivan said he expects defensemen Chad Ruhwedel and Zach Trotman both to get playing time in the near future. Trotman was paired with Marcus Pettersson Monday against Calgary, but Ruhwedel got work alongside Pettersson today.
• Although the Penguins' offense tends to get most of the attention, their team defense so far this season has been good. They are allowing an average of 2.58 goals per game, fifth-lowest figure in the NHL. "The goal (for this season) was to become a team that's harder to play against." Sullivan said. "By nature of that, goals-against should come down."
