Penguins’ Bryan Rust out at least two weeks with lower-body injury

A key veteran in the Steel City is going to miss the start of the regular season.

On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that forward Bryan Rust will miss a minimum of two weeks with a lower-body injury.

Rust reportedly exited the team’s practice early on Wednesday. His timeline means that he will not be available for Pittsburgh when it kicks off the 2025-26 season next Tuesday when it visits the New York Rangers. If the Rust is out of action for the specified amount of time, he might be able to rejoin the team during its West Coast road trip in a couple of weeks, at the earliest.

Rust was a player who was expected to be on the Penguins’ top line alongside Rickard Rakell and captain Sidney Crosby, as well as the top power play unit with Crosby, Rakell, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson.

Rust is coming off another bumpy season with Pittsburgh. Along with the team missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third consecutive year, the Pontiac, Mich., native was limited to 71 games due to a couple of lower-body injuries and illness. He still ended up scoring 31 goals and 34 assists for 65 points, all career highs. However, some wonder how much more Rust could contribute if he were to play a full 82-game season, something he hasn’t accomplished in his first 11 seasons in the NHL.

In 638 regular-season games, Rust has scored 203 goals and 234 assists for 437 points. The 33-year-old has also notched 35 assists in 79 postseason contests.

Rust is heading into the fourth season of his six-year contract, which he signed with the Pens in May 2022. The deal has a cap hit of $5.125 million, but the no-move clause that Rust had in the first three years of his contract is no more.