Things go from bad to worse for Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins today
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Sam Walker
Feb 28, 2026 (2:58 PM)
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Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Avery Hayes left Penguins vs Rangers after a linesman's elbow caught his head, and Sidney Crosby's injury replacement suddenly felt cursed.
Pittsburgh recalled Hayes to keep the lineup afloat with Crosby sidelined.
Instead, the whole game flipped the second Hayes stayed down. The bench went dead quiet.
Hayes is 23, undrafted in 2020, and he's been playing like a guy who knows every shift is an audition.
His cap hit sits at $830,000 on an entry-level deal, so the roster math is easy. The opportunity is not.
He already made noise once, scoring 2-0-2 in his first NHL game on February 5 in Buffalo.
Saturday at Madison Square Garden, he went to the wall like a normal forecheck. An on-ice official turned, and an elbow or forearm rode up into Hayes' head.
It looked accidental, but it still rattled him. That's the part that matters.
Avery Hayes and the Pittsburgh Penguins need answers
And yeah, Penguins fans have every right to feel sick about it, because this season keeps taxing the same nerve.
Crosby is already out at least four weeks with a lower-body injury from the Olympics, and the team has been juggling the middle ever since.
Before he got hurt, Crosby carried 27-32-59 in 56 games, and that's the kind of offense you cannot fake by committee.
So Hayes' recall wasn't just a nice story, it was a real lineup lever. He'd been skating in a top-six look in practice, trying to keep plays alive off the rush.
If Hayes misses time, the Penguins lose speed and puck pressure on the wing, and they lose a cheap cap-friendly body who can slide up without breaking the sheet.
The next game is where we'll learn how serious it is. If he clears protocol quickly, great, but head contact is never a shrug.
For now, it's another moment where Pittsburgh just needs the hockey gods to ease up, because «next man up» only works when the next man can actually stay upright.
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