There’s a Ray Charles song that says, “Hey if it wasn’t for bad luck y’all/Oh! I wouldn’t have no luck at all” and somewhere in Pittsburgh, Penguins centerman Jordan Staal is wondering if the song was written about him. Staal has been rehabbing from foot surgery in the off-season and his progress has been slow there.
Now that his foot is mostly healed and he’s been skating with the team lately and appeared ready to make his season debut this week, it appears those plans are going to have to go on hold for some time now as Staal was injured during practice this morning. The Penguins are calling it an “upper body injury” but TSN’s Bob McKenzie gives some insight as to what could be wrong via Twitter.
That would make for a brutal turn of bad luck for Staal and the Penguins after the day started off with hope that both Staal and Zbynek Michalek would return from their injuries this week. With Staal likely to be out even longer now and with Evgeni Malkin banged up and Mike Comrie being ineffective, the Penguins forward unit looks rough.
The upside, of course, is if Staal can come back healthy in December it makes for one hell of a mid-season acquisition without even having to make a trade. Now if the Penguins can just get rid of the black cloud that’s following Jordan Staal around they’ll be in business.
UPDATE: Bob McKenzie gets confirmation from the Penguins. Staal has a broken hand and will be out for six weeks.