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The Lehigh Valley Phantoms will be without one of their top defensemen for two games after the American Hockey League suspended Samuel Morin for his hit on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Garrett Wilson in the early stages of Tuesday’s game.
But the punishment was of little consolation to the Penguins, who will miss Wilson for a dozen games or more.
After a day off on Wednesday, the Penguins practiced on Thursday for the first time without Wilson. After practice, Penguins coach Clark Donatelli offered an update on his injured winger.
“He’s out at least a month, if not six weeks with an upper body (injury),” Donatelli said.
When asked if he was hopeful that Wilson would return before the postseason, Donatelli said, “We just don’t know.”
The physical winger was an integral part of a line that produced consistently for the Penguins. Centered by Oskar Sundqvist and with Danny Kristo taking at the other wing after Josh Archibald was called up to Pittsburgh, Donatelli will revamp the line once again with Wilson’s absence.
Wilson was fifth on the team among active players with 29 points in 51 games. He was a plus-16 and had 74 penalty minutes.
As far as a move to replace Wilson, Donatelli said that will come from within, at least for Friday’s game against Albany, as the Penguins still have 12 forwards and eight defensemen.
Still, Donatelli didn’t rule out bringing up a player from Wheeling at some point over the weekend. The Penguins have three games in three days, all on the road, this weekend.
“We’ll be talking to management and (Wheeling head coach) Jeff Christian,” Donatelli said. “We’ll get through the game on Friday and go from there.”
As far as the league suspending Morin for his hit, Donatelli was more concerned with Wilson.
“That’s not my place. I know Wilson is out four to six weeks and that’s my concern,” he said.
Kristo said Wilson’s combination of offense and physical play will be missed.
“It’s tough to have a guy like him go down,” he said. “We have to rely on our depth and we have a lot of guys deep in the lineup that can step up and fill roles.”
Di Pauli getting close
Center Thomas Di Pauli, who has been sidelined since late November with an upper body injury, practiced again on Thursday with light contact.
Donatelli previously said Di Pauli could return by the end of the month, and on Thursday he said the rookie forward was still on schedule.