With Crosby’s status uncertain, Pens considering their options at center

For a few minutes, at least, fears were allayed.

Sidney Crosby, who means as much to a professional sports franchise as any athlete on this planet, stepped onto the ice as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ practice session in Cranberry was about to open Thursday, and all seemed right with the world.

After appearing to injure his left arm during a 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, Crosby stepped in front of a vacant cage Thursday and tipped point shots by assistant coach Ty Hennes and also exchanged passes with linemate Bryan Rust at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

Then, just as practice began, Crosby departed, lumbering to the facility’s auxiliary rink.

Skating with a handful of strength and conditioning staffers, Crosby worked out on his own while teammates went through their typical progression of drills, line rushes and special teams work on the main rink.

Crosby’s individual session lasted approximately 40 minutes and concluded while his teammates still formally practiced. There was little evident to the naked eye as to what exactly might be ailing him during his individual session.

And there’s little evidence as to his status for the Penguins’ upcoming two-game road trip — against the New York Rangers on Friday and Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday — or his availability for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in which he is scheduled to serve as Canada’s captain beginning next week.

He was not available for comment after practice. Coach Mike Sullivan largely indicated evaluations were still being performed on Crosby, and a more thorough answer might be available Friday.

Crosby’s convalescence comes as Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins’ other superstar center, is rehabilitating from an undisclosed ailment that has kept him out of the lineup for the past four games.

In their combined absences, Rickard Rakell, who leads the team in goals with 24 while largely operating as a left winger, stepped in as the default No. 1 center during Thursday’s practice.

He skated with Anthony Beauvillier at the left wing and Bryan Rust on the right wing.

“I grew up playing center,” said Rakell, a native of Sweden. “My first, I want say, couple of years in the NHL, I played center. But it was a while ago. But I don’t mind it. I think it’s a lot of fun.”

Much of that fun at the NHL level came early in his career as a member of the Anaheim Ducks. In 550 career games with Anaheim, Rakell took 1,854 faceoffs, winning 45.6% of them.

Since joining the Penguins via a trade in February of 2021, Rakell has engaged in only 44 draws — triumphant in 40.9% of them — through 225 games.

“Obviously, I think I have one way of playing center, and then Sid has one way of playing center,” Rakell said. “And he’s the best at it. I’m just going to try to play my game and don’t make it too complicated.”

What is a bit more complex is Crosby’s status for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The event — a round-robin tournament between players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the U.S. — is largely a marketing or promotional device for the league as well as the NHLPA. While the vague pursuit of national pride largely has been repeated in promotions, the tournament carries no tangible significance beyond generating revenue for the league.

Sullivan is serving as the U.S. coach, and Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas is installed as director of player personnel for Canada.

“I have my hands full with Team USA,” Sullivan said when asked about Crosby’s availability for the tournament. “Kyle and their group, I’m sure they have it under control.”

The group of centers the Penguins were left with Thursday was a motley crew.

After Rakell, Cody Glass manned the second line, and Kevin Hayes occupied the third line. Blake Lizotte was stationed in his typical role on the fourth line.

A recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League — a fairly short trek from New York or Philadelphia — is possible, with prospect Vasily Ponomarev presumably the leading candidate for such a transaction.

But how does this team, limited even before Crosby and Malkin were stricken by maladies, compensate for their potential combined absences?

“Just try not to do too much,” Glass said. “They are two sensational players. … It’s a weird spot, but you don’t want to be someone you’re not. You want to continue to do things you’re good at. There’s five (skaters) on the ice at the same exact time, so you want to play as a team. You don’t want to be an individual. You don’t want to try to do too much.

“Just simplify.” Simply put, the Penguins are, obviously, a lesser team in every way without Crosby and Malkin.

But they’re not resigned to any particular fate.

“It’s not going to be easy losing our top two forwards,” Rakell said. “But it’s (a chance) for us other guys just to take that opportunity and do the best we can with it.”