The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Sidney Crosby on injured reserve Wednesday after he suffered a presumed right leg injury that sidelined him for the final two games of the Olympic tournament for Canada.
The team captain could miss the next four weeks.
Crosby was injured skating for Team Canada during the Winter Olympics in a quarterfinal contest vs. Czechia on Feb. 18 and, as a result, was forced to miss his team’s semifinal win vs. Finland and gold-medal defeat at the hands of the United States on Sunday.
Crosby was absent from the Penguins’ practice Monday, with coach Dan Muse attributing it to travel.
The Penguins had a scheduled off-day Tuesday and practice Wednesday before hosting the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena, when the NHL schedule resumes.
Crosby last missed an NHL game Feb. 8, 2025. Since then, he has appeared in 81 consecutive contests, the longest such active streak with the Penguins. Crosby, 38, is the club’s leader in points (59), assists (32) and goals (27).
Since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, Crosby has appeared in 300 of a possible 302 games for the Penguins, missing only a pair of contests in February of 2025.
On Monday, the Penguins recalled rookie forward Avery Hayes from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, and he practiced on the top line with Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust.
The Penguins also announced that defenseman Kris Letang has been activated from injured reserve. Letang, 38, was placed on injured reserve Jan. 31 due to a foot fracture, causing him to miss the Penguins’ final four games leading into the Olympics. Through 50 games played, Letang has three goals with 22 assists and is averaging 22 minutes, 6 seconds of nightly ice time.
Staff writer Justin Guerriero contributed. This story will be updated.