Malkin Listed Out Week-to-Week

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be going down the stretch run without one of their top forwards, as Evgeni Malkin has been listed as out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, believed to be suffered when he took a cross check in the rib area against St. Louis on Saturday night.  Malkin didn't skate in the morning on Sunday and didn't play against the Flyers later on that night.  A week-to-week timetable could mean just about anything, but it sounds like something is broken, but that's one thing we'll probably never know until after the playoffs.

As of Monday's audit for the hockey pool, he was ranked 34th in hockey pool scoring with 21 goals and 71 points in 66 games and now with only three weeks worth of action to go before the playoffs and a week-to-week diagnosis, there is a definite chance that his regular season could already be done.  It's by no means official or confirmed, but I wouldn't put it out of the question right now.

This injury does have the potential to restrict how high Steve's team gets this season, as it did see a number of weeks finishing off in the top 10, but as of the middle of play on Monday, his team sits 14th, 9 points out of 10th.  Without one of his top players, that could be a tough hill to climb, which is a disappointing feeling after a decent season.