The Penguins are cutting it pretty close when it comes to the salary cap.
They have just $72,819 in projected cap space, not even close to enough to afford a recall. That's with 13 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders on the roster, plus Kris Letang.
Things got interesting in Monday's practice with Ryan Poehling sidelined day-to-day due to an upper-body injury, and Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Casey DeSmith all missing practice due to illness.
The news at Tuesday's morning skate ahead of the Penguins' 7:08 p.m. puck drop against the Blue Jackets was positive.
Poehling is officially out with his upper-body injury, but Crosby, Malkin and DeSmith are all officially "game-time decisions," with Mike Sullivan saying that he anticipates all three will be available for Tuesday's game.
Poehling did skate prior to the optional morning skate with assistant coach Ty Hennes. Malkin and DeSmith participated in the skate. Crosby didn't participate, but he worked out off the ice in the morning, and was stickhandling outside of the Penguins' locker room after the skate.
If Crosby or Malkin end up being unable to play on Tuesday, the Penguins would likely just have to play a forward short. Teams that have no cap space for a recall are allowed to make an emergency exemption recall of a player that wouldn't count toward the salary cap, but they can only do so after first playing a game short. If DeSmith were to be out, emergency backup goaltender Mike Chiasson would presumably dress as the backup for the same reason.
Putting Letang on long-term injured reserve and using the cap relief from his $6.1 million cap hit remains an option, but the fact that the Penguins haven't made that move yet seems to suggest that he might not need to be sidelined that long. Long-term injured reserve requires a player to be sidelined for 10 games and 24 days (whichever is longest) retroactive to the date of the injury or illness. For Letang, that would require him to be out through the holiday break, with the Dec. 27 game on Long Island being the earliest possible return date.
When Letang had a stroke eight years ago, it had him sidelined for two months. Both Sullivan and Ron Hextall said that the stroke Letang suffered eight days ago was less severe than his first one. Letang has been on the ice most days since his stroke last Monday and has been working out with medical supervision. It's possible that the reason he hasn't been put on long-term injured reserve yet is because there's a chance he might be able to play before Dec. 27.
Regardless of what happens with Crosby, Malkin and DeSmith on Tuesday, the absence of Poehling creates at least one known vacancy in the lineup. That opens up a spot for Danton Heinen, who is the only extra forward on the roster and has been a healthy scratch for the last three games after Kasperi Kapanen re-entered the lineup.
With Heinen's return Tuesday being a near-certainty, I asked Sullivan after the morning skate what he's hoping to see from Heinen to get his game back on track, and Sullivan said that the biggest thing is just consistency.
"Danton's a good player," Sullivan said. "He has good offensive instincts. I think he'll bring an offensive dimension to the lineup. But when he's strong on the wall, when he's conscientious defensively, all of those things, I think his overall game gets better. He ends up with better offensive looks when he focuses on those things. That's just been my experience in coaching him. But he's a very good player for us. He's a guy that can help us in so many different ways on both sides of the puck, but in particular, I think he'll bring an offensive dimension to the bottom six with his instincts and his scoring ability. We just want him to just bring consistency shift in and shift out and just focus on the details like wall play on the breakouts, decisions with the puck through the neutral zone, being hard on pucks in the puck battles. When Danton does those things. I think he's a real good player for us."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• It was a very optional morning skate. The only players who participated were DeSmith, Chiasson, Malkin, P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel.
• Letang skated before practice with Hennes and Poehling. Sullivan said he remains "status quo."
• Tristan Jarry will start.
• Elvis Merzlikins will start for Columbus, his first game since being injured on Nov. 15.
• The Blue Jackets enter tonight's game with the Eastern Conference's worst record at 8-13-2 and a 4-4-2 record in their last 10 games. Despite their start to the season, Sullivan called Columbus a "talented team."
"They have some dangerous forwards that are dangerous in particular within transition, (Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine) in particular," Sullivan said. "But they have more than that, they've got some young players that I think have real good offensive instincts. The Gaudreau line produces a lot for them, both five and five and on the power play."
Sullivan also noted that the Blue Jackets' power play has been especially hot as of late, with a 30 percent success rate in their last 10 games.
"We've got to be aware of that, and we're going to have to get the job done," Sullivan said. "That's going to be a big challenge for us on our kill."