- The Pittsburgh Penguins placed four players on injured reserve ahead of the season opener
- Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau, Blake Lizotte and Ryan Graves are all out to different degrees
- Read below for each player’s timeline and who picks up the slack
The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading into their season opener down four players.
Pittsburgh placed forwards Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau and Blake Lizotte, along with defenseman Ryan Graves, on injured reserve Sunday. The team made the announcement on X:
Kindel is the most significant loss of the group. The second-year center picked up a lower-body injury during Monday’s 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres and was held off the scoresheet in his only preseason appearance. He’s considered week-to-week.
His absence pushes Pittsburgh to lean on offseason addition Hendrix Lapierre at third-line center. Lapierre put up 16 points in 74 games with the rival Washington Capitals last season.
Brazeau is also dealing with a lower-body injury and will open the year on IR. He missed 18 games to injury a year ago but still managed 34 points in 64 games with the Penguins. Ville Koivunen should see extra minutes with Brazeau out of the lineup.
Lizotte’s situation looks the most promising of the four.
He was labeled week-to-week with an upper-body injury heading into training camp, but Lizotte has since progressed to day-to-day and returned to full-contact practice over the weekend. The IR stint might not even keep him out of Wednesday’s opener.
Graves is the biggest question mark. The defenseman has been managing a knee issue for weeks and is now out indefinitely while he looks into further rehab options. He played in two preseason games without registering a point, and his absence leaves Pittsburgh thin on the left side of its blue line.
Pittsburgh already ruled out winger Bryan Rust for the opener with an injury of his own, and now four more names join him on the shelf before the Penguins visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.
