Evgeni Malkin's injury could keep him out much longer than originally expected.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been decimated by injuries to start the season. In case you think that is a hyperbolic characterization of their current situation, the Penguins have already lost 4 of their top 9 forwards to injury and those 4 include some of the biggest contributors on their current roster.

Things started out badly for the Penguins when Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust and Nick Bjugstad all went down with significant injuries to start the regular season, and that problem was quickly compounded earlier this week. With the Penguins already badly shorthanded at the forward position they saw both Alex Galchenyuk, acquired in the trade that sent Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes this summer, and veteran Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist go down to injuries as well. In the case of Alex Galchenyuk Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan informed the media that his was actually the aggravation of an already existing injury, needless to say a very rough start to the season for the Penguins and their fans.

Unfortunately it appears as though the bad news may be continuing for the Penguins, as the injury to star forward Evgeni Malkin may actually be far more serious than had originally been predicted. Malkin went down awkwardly during a match up against the Columbus Blue Jackets, just the Penguins second game of the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season, after an inadvertent collision with teammate Kris Letang. It's true that Malkin took a slight bump along the boards after the initial contact with the Penguins defenseman, but it seemed like the injury occured on the initial collision with Letang given that Malkin appeared to be favoring his leg. 

Initially the prognosis suggested that Malkin would be out longer term, somewhere around a month was what the early reports suggested, but now it sounds like that timeline could be extended by quite a few days, weeks and perhaps even months. Sportsnet NHL insider Chris Johnston shared some insight on the Malkin injury on Saturday night, and his comments are not going to be well received by the Penguins fan base.

"The Pittsburgh Penguins are a team that don't like to give injury timelines... and I think there is a good reason for it in this case," said Johnston on Saturday night. "It sounds as though it is a bit of an uncertain timeline for when Malkin will return. We are hearing it is at least a month as he comes back from a soft tissue injury but it could be a much longer term injury than that depending on how he heals and recovers on his treatment. As a result of that the Penguins are in a bit of a crisis mode."

If Malkin is out for a "much longer term" as Johnston suggests could happen, it could mean big trouble for the Penguins playoffs hope this season, this in spite of the fact that captain Sidney Crosby has looked excellent to start the season.