Penguins/NHL
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jordan Staal has kept a low profile but spoke today with the media.
Staal who is battling a foot infection was in a walking boot and remains out for several weeks.
He says the injury has been extremely frustrating and that there is no timetable for a return. Staal also said he is not close to skating.
“I’m not really sure,” Staal said when asked about a timetable for a return. “There’s been a lot of ups and downs with this foot….I can’t really put a finger on when I’ll be back.”
As we first reported last Saturday, word is Penguins management does not expect Staal back until the holidays. Contacts I spoke with last weekend told me it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was sidelined until December.
One option for the Penguins could be to put Staal on LTIR (10 games – 24 days) which would help the Penguins promote players and carry 14 forwards to begin the season.
Staal said he is hopeful to begin working out in the next couple weeks. All he has been allowed to do is basically sit around and keep his foot up. Getting back into game shape will be another obstacle for Staal.
“I didn’t have much working out this summer, and the way my body is right now I have to get into shape pretty quickly. It’s not going to be easy, but hopefully I can do it quick,” Staal said.
Once the infection is totally healed, Staal has a tough battle to get in game shape which Staal acknowledged. He said the initial second surgery went well but near the end of the summer, it went for the worse.
