Just a few days after losing Kris Letang, the Penguins defense corps has taken another blow.
Trevor Daley will be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, coach Mike Sullivan announced Saturday.
He was injured in the second period of the Penguins 1-0 overtime loss to Los Angeles Friday.
Daley had played in all 31 games for the Penguins through Friday, with three goals, eight assists and a plus-6 plus/minus.
Daley and Letang _ who the team placed on injured reserve Saturday _ were the Penguins' top two skaters in average time on ice, and with them out of the lineup the team's depth will be tested.
"We've been fortunate here for the last little while, we've had a healthy lineup and we've had a full complement of players, but the reality is it's hard to stay that way with the nature of the condensed schedule and the nature of the game itself," Sullivan said. "We've got capable people in our lineup, it's an opportunity for them to step up and play a more significant role."
To that end, the Penguins called up defenseman Chad Ruhwedel from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Saturday. Ruhwedel has played in 26 games in Wilkes-Barre, with three goals and 10 assists.
Sullivan praised Ruhwedel's skating and puck-moving ability, and said his right-handed shot made him a better fit right now than fellow AHL defenseman David Warsofsky, who saw some NHL time earlier this season.
"I think he's just a solid two-way defenseman," Sullivan said. "He defends with his mobility, he defends with his stick. He's another one of those guys that we think can get out of our end zone, just through his mobility and his puck movement."
