Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will make his return to the lineup on Wednesday against the Carolina Hurricanes the club announced.
Crosby has been sidelined with a lower body injury suffered at the 2026 Winter Olympics after taking an awkward hit from Radko Gudas during Canada’s quarterfinals victory over Czechia. During his absence, the Penguins managed to go 5-3-3 to move to 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division.
“Excited to get back in it,” Crosby told reporters. “It’s never easy watching, but I think you gain even more appreciation when you’re up top, and you just see on a nightly basis, the way we compete, the way we work.”
Across 56 games this season, the 38 year old has amassed 27G and 32A, making him better than a point per game player even as he approaches the age of 40. At 34-18-15, Pittsburgh trails Carolina (42-19-6) by 7 points with 15 games remaining in the regular season. A victory on the road would do wonders for a team looking to close the gap on their divisional rivals.
The club also recently got back forward Evgeni Malkin who was suspended for 5 games following a slashing incident after the Olympic break. Not having Crosby or Malkin in the lineup left a major leadership void, despite the fact that many around the Penguins organization have praised how involved Crosby has been in spite of his injury.
The more tangible on ice result of not having Crosby in the lineup has been Pittsburgh’s difficulty in the face-off circle. Since the Olympic break, the Penguins have won a league worst 41% of their face-offs. They’ve been able to make up for this due to the fact that they’ve scored an average of 3.45 goals per game with Crosby on the sideline.
His insertion into the lineup also helps move Rickard Rakell back to his preferred position on the wing after he was forced to fill in as the team’s top line centre during the veteran forward’s absence. While the team has yet to announce any corresponding moves after activating Crosby from the injured reserve, either one of Avery Hayes or Ville Koivunen could be sent back down to the AHL to ensure they continue to see minutes.
Puck drop for Wednesday’s divisional showdown against Carolina is set for 7pm ET.
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.