Penguins' Staal sustains broken hand
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Penguins forward Jordan Staal has yet to play a game this season.
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Jordan Staal spent the first three weeks of the 2010-11 season getting ready to play his first game.
Now, he apparently will have to wait for six more.
Staal is scheduled to undergo surgery today to repair a broken right hand he got when he was struck by a puck during the Penguins' practice at Southpointe Monday.
Staal, who missed the first 12 games of the season while recovering from a foot infection, is expected to be out until around mid-December while his fracture heals.
Although that prognosis isn't necessarily firm, it appears to be a fairly realistic projection of when Staal should be able to resume playing.
"It could change, I guess," general manager Ray Shero said. "We'll see after the surgery. We're being somewhat conservative. We want it to heal properly."
Staal had resuming practicing about two weeks ago and impressed his teammates and bosses with his commitment and enthusiasm.
"He was feeling good and working hard at it," Shero said.
"When you're that close to coming back and a freak thing happens ..."
Staal was hoping to make his first appearance of the season when the Penguins visit Dallas Wednesday.
He joined with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy to form arguably the NHL's top third line last season, and skated with Kennedy and Mike Comrie Monday before being hurt about 30 minutes into the workout.
Whether Staal would have played between those two against the Stars isn't clear, but his teammates were understandably excited about having him return to active duty, regardless of where he was used.
"Anytime you get a big part of the team back, it's nice," Kennedy said.
Shero said he had no immediate plans to recall a forward from the Penguins' farm team in Wilkes-Barre to replace Staal, who has not taken up a spot on the 23-man NHL roster because he has been on the Long-Term Injured List while getting over his foot infection.
That could change if Evgeni Malkin, who sat out the Penguins' 3-0 victory at Carolina Saturday because of a bruised knee, is unable to play in Dallas.
He did not participate in the workout Monday.
First Published November 2, 2010 12:00 am
