Talbot To Miss 4-5 Months After Shoulder Surgery

Penguins' "superstar" Max Talbot, it was revealed yesterday, will be in recovery for 4-5 months after undergoing surgery on Tuesday at UPMC hospital in Pittsburgh to repair a left shoulder injury he sustained after lifting the Stanley Cup over his head too many times.

I'm sorry -- I couldn't resist.

What REALLY happened is that Talbot apparently tore or partially tore the labrum in that shoulder at some point in the post-season or late in the season. The team has not revealed when or how the injury occurred, but Pens' GM Ray Shero simply said that the injury and need for surgery wasn't really a surprise to the team and that Talbot had been playing through that condition "for a while".

With the 4-5 month timetable, the Penguins' stanley cup winning goal scorer is expected to miss all of training camp and the first month or two of the season. He is expected to return in November or, at the latest, early December.

While Pittsburgh is not expected to reach outside of the organization to replace Talbot, it will be interesting to see what they do in filling his roster spot, and to see how his absence affects the lines at the outset of the team's final season in the venerable Mellon Arena this coming year.

For openers, would Talbot have continued to play as a top-6 forward on Evgeni Malkin's right wing, as he did for much of the season? After scoring only 12 regular season goals, Talbot was fabulous in the post-season, notching 8 markers. He had 4 in the first three rounds, then doubled that in the Cup Finals.

Through the first 6 games of the Finals, he scored twice, then doubled that output by scoring the Penguins' all the way to the Cup with both game 7 tallies.

With 4 goals, he had more than any other player in the Final series.

Despite that, I'm not certain he would have started the season on #71's portside. It would have been interesting to see what HCDB (head coach Dan Bylsma) would have done about that slot. Now, with Talbot being out until near winter, Bylsma will have no choice to go with someone else -- at least to start the year.

Disco Dan will have the chance to try several people in that spot during training camp. Will he, for example, move up Tyler Kennedy? Some in the organization feel that TK has top-6 forward potential.

Will one of the Penguins' better wing prospects, like Luca Caputi or Eric Tangradi get a shot there? Both will need a strong training camp overall to see that opportunity.

Or will we end up seeing Petr Sykora return to that spot? While Sykora remains a free agent talking with several teams throughout the league, I know the Penguins haven't completely closed the door on him returning. I think it's unlikley, but you never know.

It would be a strange sequence of events to see Sykora back in that role for sure, after his disappearing act down the stretch last season when the Penguins needed him the most.

That's all for now. 2008/2009 season grades coming soon.

(I know I keep saying that. Just be patient).