The Pittsburgh Penguins got another dose of injury news on Monday, with Evgeni Malkin and Kaedan Korczak both listed as day-to-day because of lower-body injuries.
The team also said forward Elmer Soderblom’s status has been upgraded to week-to-week.
Malkin’s issue comes without much clarity attached to it. He played 17:54 on Saturday in Pittsburgh’s 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, a workload that was close to his usual pace.
He has missed only one game this season, but he has still been one of the Penguins’ most productive players. Through 13 games, Malkin has six goals and five assists for 11 points, tying Nick Robertson for the team lead in goals and ranking second on the club in scoring behind Erik Karlsson.
He also has a plus/minus of +1 and is averaging 17:03 of ice time.
Korczak has been a regular presence for Pittsburgh, appearing in all 14 games so far and logging heavy minutes in the top four. The 25-year-old has six assists and no goals, putting him tied for second on the team in assists. He is also carrying a -3 rating while averaging 18:21 per game.
Soderblom’s situation is different. He’s dealing with an upper-body injury and was placed on injured reserve last Wednesday.
He was eligible to return on Saturday, but now the Penguins say he’ll need more time. In six appearances this season, he has one assist.
Pittsburgh, which is 5-7-2, hosts the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
In Other News...
Penguins Just Created A New Opening For Rutger McGroarty
Rutger McGroarty is back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Pittsburgh reassigned the young forward, a move that trims the NHL roster but also keeps the door cracked open for him. Since breaking in during the 2024-25 season, McGroarty has appeared in 34 NHL games and put up four goals and nine points, while his work in the AHL has continued to show why the Penguins view him as a real part of their future.
For now, the assignment gives Pittsburgh a little more flexibility up front and keeps McGroarty in a place where he can keep building confidence and production. He has already shown he can handle the minors with scoring touch and strong underlying numbers over two seasons, so the next step may depend less on what he does in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and more on how the Penguins manage the rest of their roster in the days ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Loss Just Raised Bigger Questions About Where This Team Is Headed
The loss to the Canadiens did more than add another mark in the standings for Pittsburgh, it sharpened the sense that this season is drifting toward a tougher conversation about direction. There have been bright spots, including Tristan Jarrys consecutive shutouts, but the Penguins have also been living with the kind of uneven play that invites scrutiny from the coach and the front office alike.
Dan Muse now has a team that needs a reset in more ways than one, and the questions around the roster are only getting louder. Trade chatter keeps circling around names like Nikita Kucherov and Dylan Larkin, while the broader NHL landscape keeps moving around Pittsburgh, from Carolinas interest in Simon Edvinsson to the latest international hockey buzz, leaving the Penguins to decide what kind of next step they really want to take. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Defensive Problems Are Becoming Harder To Ignore
The defensive issues that have followed the Penguins through October were back in plain view after the loss to Montreal, and Dan Muse did not try to soften the picture. Pittsburgh has spent much of the month living with mistakes and breakdowns that turn routine shifts into dangerous moments, and the result has been a team that has struggled to find any consistency in its own end while the rest of the Metropolitan Division sorts itself out around it.
Muses comments fit a larger pattern for a club that has not been able to string together reliable defensive performances, even as the standings continue to tighten. The Penguins have been trying to keep pace in a division where every point matters, but the recurring problems around their net are making the margin for error awfully small, and the next stretch will say plenty about whether these are fixable habits or a more stubborn issue. [Read more 🡒]