{"id":469177,"date":"2026-02-24T05:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469177\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T05:46:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:46:22","slug":"penguins-already-test-plan-to-replace-sidney-crosby-while-awaiting-further-injury-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469177\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins already test plan to replace Sidney Crosby while awaiting further injury update"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> are on the edge of their seats. While they await updates on Sidney Crosby and the lower-body injury he suffered at the 2026 Winter Olympics, head coach Dan Muse and his staff are already putting a plan in place as the 2025\u201326 NHL season is set to resume.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the Penguins confirmed the return of a promising young star<\/a>\u2014calling up Avery Hayes from the AHL to the NHL lineup\u2014Pittsburgh held a team practice. During it, Muse and his staff laid out a clear blueprint for how the Penguins might look if Crosby<\/a> indeed misses significant time.<\/p>\n

As reported by Sportsnet Pittsburgh\u2019s Hailey Hunter, Hayes slotted into the top forward line during his first practice back with the Penguins. The 23-year-old took over the vacant spot left by Crosby\u2019s absence alongside Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust. Because Hayes is not a natural center, Rakell shifted to the faceoff dot, while Hayes slid in on the wing.<\/p>\n

Thus, the Penguins got their first real glimpse of what they could look like going forward in the 2025\u201326 NHL<\/a> season. After Crosby missed the gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Pittsburgh can safely assume its captain will be sidelined for some time. How long? That\u2019s where the intrigue lies.<\/p>\n

\"Avery<\/p>\n

Avery Hayes of the Penguins<\/p>\n

Muse addresses Crosby\u2019s injury<\/p>\n

\u201cSid, we\u2019re still waiting for. He\u2019s traveling today. Waiting for him to get back. We\u2019ve got to get a status update there. There\u2019s still more information that we need to have,\u201d Muse commented when asked for an update on Crosby, via @PensInsideScoop on X.<\/p>\n

\"Sidney<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Sidney Crosby offers Nathan MacKinnon honest statement after crucial miss against Team USA<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

As things stand, the Penguins remain very much in the dark around Crosby\u2019s situation. Pittsburgh resumes its NHL campaign on Thursday, February 26th when it hosts the New Jersey Devils\u2014and perhaps American golden-goal hero Jack Hughes\u2014at PPG Paints Arena. <\/p>\n

All signs indicate Crosby won\u2019t be on the ice for the Metropolitan Division showdown, but until an official announcement is made, he can\u2019t be ruled out, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the edge of their seats. While they await updates on Sidney Crosby and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,4,118,1469,100,5216,768],"class_list":{"0":"post-469177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-penguins","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","14":"tag-sidney-crosby"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116124031428977325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}