CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The injury bug has hit the Penguins quite hard over the last month and change, but it appears reinforcements are on the horizon.
Kris Letang suffered a lower-body injury against the Red Wings on Dec. 28, then left the team within the next week to be with his family in Montreal following the passing of his father. Mike Sullivan said on Monday that he anticipated Letang to be back with the team within a day or so, and he was right. Prior to the start of an optional practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex here in Cranberry, Letang hit the ice in a white non-contact jersey for some work with Ty Hennes.
Once the whistle blew for practice, he stuck around with the team for another 15 minutes or so before departing. In total, he was on the ice for about 50 minutes:
"It's great. Obviously he means a lot to our team. He's part of this family," Sullivan said of Letang's return to the group after practice concluded. "For him to be back around the group was a great feeling for everybody. We're looking forward to him joining us during a game, and we're hopeful that's sooner than later."
Letang will not play Wednesday night against the Senators at the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa, but he will be making the trip with the team.
When Letang left for Montreal, he was placed on the NHL non-roster list. The non-roster list doesn't have any salary cap implications, but his return to the team would count as taking one of the 23 roster spots permitted. The Penguins already had 23 players on the roster, so Letang was placed on injured reserve Tuesday, retroactive to Dec. 28. He can be activated at any time, so long as the Penguins clear a roster spot for him.
"That's his first day on the ice in a couple of weeks," Sullivan said. "We want to make sure we put him in a position to be successful."
Letang's return to the lineup can't come soon enough for the Penguins' power play, especially. In the 12 games prior to his injury, the power play went 16-for-41 (39%). In the eight games he's missed since then, the power play has gone 3-for-38 (7.9%). Ty Smith has handled top-unit duties about as well as you could hope from someone who started the season in the AHL, but he's no Letang.
In another positive on the injury front, Tristan Jarry skated with the team for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston on Jan. 2. Prior to Tuesday, Jarry had been skating on his own with goalie coach Andy Chiodo as he went through the rehab process. Jarry will make the trip to Ottawa with the team, but it's unclear if he'll be ready to play.
"Great," Jarry responded when asked how he's feeling. "I think it's good to be able to manage that and come back 100%. Playing anything less than that, I don't think it benefits the team. It's definitely something that you want to go out and be 100% because it's a tough league and you want to win every night."
Jarry mentioned that his injury didn't have anything to do with the ice conditions of the outdoor rink at Fenway Park, assuring that the injury likely would have occurred anywhere. Jarry knew right away that something wasn't quite right and that if he stayed in the game, it would have been to the detriment of the team. He did not put a timeline on his return to game action.
The good news doesn't stop at Letang and Jarry, as Jeff Petry was a full participant during practice for the first time since injuring his left arm/wrist on Dec. 10. It marked the second day in a row Petry skated with the team.
"Obviously it wasn't a full-team practice, but to get some reps with more bodies out there -- 3-on-2s, 2-on-1s -- it's something that I haven't done in a while, so it was good to get those reps in," Petry said. "Every day is one step closer."
Petry is making the trip to Ottawa, though a decision on whether or not he'll play has yet to be determined. For now, Petry remains on long-term injured reserve. In addition to clearing a roster spot for him, the Penguins will have to clear quite a bit of salary cap space to accommodate his $6.25 million cap hit when he's activated. His activation will likely spell the end of Smith's run in the NHL for the time being.
To round it all out, Ryan Poehling (full participation) and Josh Archibald (non-contact) were out there with the team for practice, as well. Both of them remain on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and lower-body injury, respectively, but can be activated at any time.
"I'm better," Poehling said. "I think every day is progressing in the right direction, which is always good. I guess that's all I'm worried about, but it's nice seeing the progression and having a direction."
Both Poehling and Archibald will travel to Ottawa, but like Petry, a decision hasn't been made on their statuses for the game. If either were to play, the more likely of the two would be Poehling since he practiced without any limitations.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Tuesday's practice was optional. Todd Reirden conducted the skate with Sullivan sitting this one out. The following players weren't out there: Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Jeff Carter, Brian Dumoulin, Ty Smith, Marcus Pettersson, Jan Rutta, Chad Ruhwedel.
• No official roster moves have been made, but it certainly seemed like Jonathan Gruden was packing up for a return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL after practice. That bodes well for at least one of the injured players returning Wednesday night in Ottawa. Gruden made his NHL debut against the Ducks Monday night at PPG Paints Arena. Taylor Haase has more on that here.
• Despite all of the good news from practice, there was a piece of bad news: Rutta will not travel to Ottawa as he deals with an upper-body injury. He did not play Monday night, and his status is day-to-day.
• Because it was an optional practice with about half the team missing, the Penguins did not take line rushes or work on special teams.
• In case you forgot, defenseman Taylor Fedun is still on the NHL roster for now. Even with all of Letang, Petry and Rutta out, the Penguins still have six healthy defensemen in front of him.
• Senators center Josh Norris was activated from long-term injured reserve Tuesday and is expected to return to the lineup against the Penguins Wednesday after a 38-game absence with a shoulder injury. The 23-year-old had just a goal and an assist in five games this season before the injury, but is coming off a breakout season in which he scored 35 goals in 66 games.
• Puck drops at 7:08 p.m. Wednesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Dejan Kovacevic will be there for your coverage.