"Ok, everyone who scored a goal in Game 7 last season gets to wear a red jersey!"
Kudos to Penguins.com:
Penguins forward Maxime Talbot, who has been sidelined this season following offseason shoulder surgery, practiced with his teammates for the first time this year.
Talbot, who wore the red "no contact" jersey, has been skating and working on his own since Sept. 29. But today marked the first time he went through a portion of practice with the rest of the team.
Talbot's timetable to return has been placed at late November - early December. It's unknown if that's been expedited at all in lieu of recent progress he's made.
When Talbot returns, what role will he be asked to play? The Penguins haven't gotten much regular strength production from Evgeni Malkin's linemates -- Ruslan Fedotenko has just 3 ES points and they've auditioned a lot of guys on the other side like Pascal Dupuis, and briefly Chris Bourque and Jordan Staal. Staal's been effective, but given his propensity to play center, doesn't seem like it'll be a long-term option.
Talbot, an internationally reknowned superstar for his clutch playoff scoring, is not a regular season point producer game in and game out. So even if he may not be the answer for the full-time 2nd line spot, his energy and attitude's a positive for the team and ought to bring a further boost to the penalty kill.
First things first though, Talbot's still got a lot of rehab and pracitices to go before the Superstar is back. But after today he is one step closer.