Pittsburgh Penguins star Erik Karlsson confirms his injury status as regular season approaches

Yesterday, Karlsson participated in practice with the Penguins for the first time in the pre-season. He has been dealing with a lingering upper-body injury that has kept him out of camp to this point, but it appears as though the team has been extra cautious with him, so this move was largely precautionary. If a younger Karlsson was dealing with the same issue he likely would have played through it, but at this point in his career it makes sense why the Penguins would want to be cautious.

Today, Karlsson followed that up be becoming a full participant in practice, wearing a contact jersey and all. It appears as though he will continue to practice with the team leading up to opening night, but as the team has already completed their slate of pre-season games he does not have a chance to get into game action before that. Regardless, the 34-year-old appears to be confident about his health heading into the season. After practice this morning, this is what he had to say to reporters.

Furthermore, head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Karlsson will be on the Penguins top powerplay unit to stat the season. This is a good sign as he split time with Kris Letang for that position last season while the Penguins' man-advantage struggled mightily, contributing to their failures last season. Hopefully, a healthy Erik Karlsson can help turn that ship around.

Karlsson had 11 goals and 56 points in his first year with Pittsburgh last season. In total, he is up to 1002 regular-season appearances and has 189 goals and 628 assists for 817 career points. If he can play to the best of his capabilities this season, perhaps the Penguins can sneak back into the playoffs. Otherwise, it could be another long year in Pittsburgh.