Penguins Showing Confidence That Star Will Return For Season

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a week into training camp, yet star defenseman Erik Karlsson remains sidelined.

What gives?

Karlsson hasn’t taken the ice with his teammates yet, as a rather mysterious upper-body injury has carried over into the start of camp. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan labeled his superstar as day-to-day, and said Thursday that there’s no need to worry moving forward.

“I’m confident that he is going to make progress here,” Sullivan said, per the team. “His status is day-to-day. Our team is working with him here, and I am confident that they will have success.”

The Penguins have already played two preseason games, and have five more on the schedule before opening night on Oct. 9 against the New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena. Karlsson appeared in all 82 games during his first season in Pittsburgh, scoring a relatively mild 11 goals and 45 assists for 56 total points. If the Penguins want to get more production out of the 34-year-old in his second season, they’ll have to hope he returns to practice relatively soon.

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