Today was the first day back for the non-Olympic Pittsburgh Penguins, who will take part in some practices to shake off some rust and prepare for the NHL’s return on February 26. The Pens had two faces on the ice with Kris Letang and Filip Hallander along for the ride.
Letang suffered a broken foot the end of January and was reportedly absent for four weeks. Seeing him back on the ice now is a good sign that he will be ready to go when games resume.
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Hallander’s situation has been more fluid, suffering a blood clot following a puck hit in the leg in early November. He was able to do a few workouts on his own, but was unable to participate in a team workout until today due to the three-month period he was taking blood thinners to treat the clot. There has been no official update on his status yet, although it seems like good news that he was able to move on to the next stage of his recovery.
The Pens still have four Olympians away from the team, Arturs Silovs will not start today for Latvia in their upcoming quarterfinal match against Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell and Sweden. Sidney Crosby plays tomorrow for Canada.
The Penguins have another practice planned tomorrow at 11 a.m. and will spend time on the ice almost daily over the next week as players shake off the sand from their vacation and prepare to get back into the swing of the NHL schedule later next week.
