It might not be ideal, but the Pittsburgh Penguins don't have many options if the sick players are still out.
PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins are in an interesting situation when it comes to the health of their players.
In Monday’s practice there were four names missing; forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Poehling, and goalie Casey DeSmith were all absent.
After practicing with only 10 forwards and emergency backup goalie Mike Chiasson, Head coach Mike Sullivan said that Crosby, Malkin, and DeSmith were all out with an illness, and Poehling was considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
While Sullivan is hopeful at least the sick players will be good to go for the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, what happens if they’re not?
The Penguins are in a bit of a pickle if they aren’t feeling well enough to play; the Penguins currently don’t have the cap space to make a call-up, and under the CBA, cannot yet make an emergency call.
According to the CBA, a team cannot make the emergency call-up of a skater before playing a game short on players.
If the all three of Crosby, Malkin, and Poehling are unable to play, that means Danton Heinen will slide back into the lineup, but that’s it.
There cannot be an emergency move for a skater; the Penguins can, however, freely bring up a goalie on an emergency basis.
If DeSmith is unable to perform, the Penguins are free to make an emergency call-up of a goalie with a cap hit of under $1 million.
Dustin Tokarski is the likely option holding a cap hit of $775,000.
While making a move on an emergency basis is tricky, there is an option for some cap relief and roster relief.
Kris Letang has yet to be moved from the active roster since suffering a stroke last week; without a time table for return, it makes sense to move him to long term injured reserve.
A move to LTIR would free up $6.1 million against the cap and open up another spot on the roster for the Penguins to utilize.
The Penguins currently sit with a roster size of 22 with one space open; taking Letang off frees up a second spot.
If all three forwards are unavailable to play, without getting into a sticky situation, it might be safest for the Penguins to drop Letang to LTIR and have the room to call up a pair of forwards.
Heinen could step in for one and a pair of call-ups in for the remaining two.
Best case scenario, however, is that all three sick Penguins are feeling better and good to go and there is no need to worry about emergency moves or playing short.
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