While the Penguins will be without Jason Zucker for a while yet with his lower-body injury, general manager Ron Hextall expressed some optimism that he will be able to return before the end of the regular season in an interview with Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It has been a tough first "full" season with Pittsburgh for the 29-year-old, as he has just four goals and three assists in 17 games. But he’d undoubtedly give the Penguins a lift for the stretch run if he’s able to return.
Of course, there are some salary-cap considerations at play. Zucker is currently on LTIR — resulting in some extra flexibility (up to his $5.5M AAV) for the Penguins heading into the deadline. However, with the belief that he’ll be able to return, the Pens can’t really use that money to add an impact piece as they’d need to get back into cap compliance before they can activate him. Accordingly, their potential for spending will be limited.
While the full interview is definitely worth a read, here are a few other highlights from Hextall’s discussion with Rorabaugh:
More must-reads:
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