The Pittsburgh Penguins placed rookie forward Filip Hallander on injured reserve Saturday after announcing a day earlier that he had been diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg and would miss at least three months.
Hallander, 25, will remain in Pittsburgh and rehabilitate with the Penguins medical team and UPMC staff, the team announced.
“It’s terrible. At the same time, when something like this happens, it goes way beyond hockey. It’s about the person,” Penguins head coach Dan Muse said Friday. “And I think we’re all very appreciative and grateful that the medical staff here were able to figure this out as quickly as they did, and now they can start doing whatever they need to do just to get him back on track and take care of him.”
Hallander last played Monday in a 4-3 loss at Toronto. He has four points (one goal, three assists), a plus-4 differential, two penalty minutes, five blocks, three hits and a career-high 13:09 time on ice average in 13 games. He played on the top forward line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust in a few games.
Pittsburgh selected Hallander, a native of Sweden, in the second round of the 2018 NHL Draft. The Penguins are scheduled to play two games in Stockholm, Sweden against the Nashville Predators on November 14 and 16 in the NHL World Series.
Hallander also played in one game during the 2021-22 season and two games during the 2022-23 campaign. He returned to Sweden for off-ice reasons to support his young family, the Penguins said. After playing the last two seasons with Timra of the Swedish Hockey League, he decided to return to Pittsburgh on a two-year, $1.55 million contract.
–Field level media
