NHL All-Star Game: Evgeni Malkin injured, not going to LA

Last week we marveled at Evgeni Malkin's ability to play all the Penguins games. That's come to a close now

Coach: "Geno is out for tomorrow's game and the All-Star Game with a lower-body injury. Patric is day-to-day with a lower-body injury."

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2017

Without Malkin and possibly Patric Hornqvist tomorrow, that could be a big hit to the team. Losing Malkin is bad enough, if Hornqvist is also out, the Pens will presumably need to make a call-up for the last game before ASG, as they'll only have the ten healthy forwards from last game plus just Tom Kuhnhackl (healthy scratch).

Sounds like it could be a chance for Oskar Sundqvist to make his NHL season debut, being as the team has just 3 healthy centers at the moment and Sundqvist has been great down in Wilkes-Barre with 33 points (14g+19a) in 39 games. Along those lines, Pittsburgh has waived Steve Oleksy today which frees up a roster spot and some cap space to bring up another forward, if necessary.

As far as Malkin's ASG spot, one would have to assume Phil Kessel (14g+31a) could be a natural replacement. Cam Atkinson (24g+22a) would also be another pick that makes sense, we'll see what the NHL decides there.