Penguins Veteran Winger to Miss Time

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been dealt some bad injury news, as veteran forward Reilly Smith is expected to be out "longer-term" after suffering an upper-body injury in the Pens' recent contest against the Vancouver Canucks.

Practice in Cranberry today 🏒

Coach Sullivan said Reilly Smith,
who left last night’s game after the 1st period due to a big hit from Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov, is being evaluated and would categorize him as longer-term w/ an upper-body injury.@SNPittsburgh pic.twitter.com/WL9IaEi31p
— Hailey Hunter (@TheHaileyHunter) January 12, 2024

Smith suffered his injury after taking a big hit from Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov. He was limited to only just over three minutes of playing time because of it, and now we know that he is set to miss a decent amount of time because of it.

This is certainly not good news for a Penguins team looking to jump in the standings. Smith is a very important part of their forward group, as he provides solid offense. As a result of his absence, the Penguins will now need to find a way to replace him and his production, which will not be the easiest of tasks.

Smith is having a pretty solid first season with the Pens, and the truth can be seen in his stats. In 40 games during this campaign, he currently has eight goals to go along with 20 points. Overall, he has been giving them decent offense, so losing him is far from ideal.

It will be interesting to see how the Penguins do without Smith in their lineup from here.