Penguins’ Nick Bonino week to week with lacerated kidney: Who will fill in?

Penguins center Nick Bonino is week to week with a lacerated kidney sustained in the team’s overtime loss at home to the Islanders on Thursday, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said Saturday. Here’s what you need to know:

Sullivan said Bonino complained he wasn’t feeling right Friday and was sent to the hospital, where tests showed the lacerated kidney. Bonino was scheduled to be released from the hospital Saturday, Sullivan said.
Bonino, a 14-year NHL veteran, was traded to Pittsburgh from the Sharks in a three-team deal at the trade deadline earlier this month.
In 62 games this season, Bonino has 19 points (10 goals and nine assists).

Backstory

Bonino, 34, is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, both during a prior stint with the Penguins. He spent the first five seasons of his career in Anaheim.

Bonino has racked up 353 points (158 goals and 195 assists) across his career with the Ducks, Predators, Sharks, Canucks, Wild and Penguins.

What they’re saying

Sullivan said the injury news is “hard” and the team was “excited for him to be here.”

“He’s a great guy and player — a great voice in the locker room,” Sullivan added. “He will continue to be that for us. The prognosis is encouraging and he’s on the mend.”

How Bonino fits with the Penguins

Bonino was acquired March 3 — a late addition before the NHL trade deadline expired. It marked a return to Pittsburgh for Bonino, who as a third-line center was a key contributor on the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup teams in 2016 and 2017.

The Penguins re-acquired Bonino specifically to slot as their fourth-line center and help lead their penalty-killing unit. Whatever offensive punch he could provide at five-on-five would be welcome, as the Penguins’ bottom-six scoring has been scarce all season. Also, the penalty kill has struggled since Dec. 22, operating at only a 74.8-percent clip (80 of 107). — Rossi

Who will fill in for him?

Sullivan did not divulge Saturday who the Penguins would play as their fourth center in Bonino’s absence. But the options aren’t ideal.

Drew O’Connor, finally getting regular ice time in the NHL, can play the middle. However, he was just finding his footing as a third-line winger.

The Penguins could return Jeff Carter to center on the third line and make Mikael Granlund the fourth-line center. Carter has centered the third line most of the season, but the Penguins have tried him as the right wing on their third line since acquiring Granlund on March 1. Granlund was being given a look as the third-line center, and the Penguins traded for him in part to help spark the third line.

If and when he’s healthy, Ryan Poehling would fit as the presumed replacement for Bonino in the fourth-line center slot. However, Poehling has been dealing with a nagging upper-body injury that had him placed on LTIR retroactive to Feb. 14. — Rossi

Where does Pittsburgh’s season stand?

Bonino’s loss comes at a bad time for the Penguins, who played their third of a five-game homestand on Saturday. They play again Sunday against the Rangers, whom they will also face on the road twice next week.

The Penguins began Saturday as the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card team. The Rangers are above them at third place in the Metropolitan Division, and the Penguins could conceivably make a push to escape the wild card if they took five of six points from their upcoming games against New York.

That task becomes increasingly more difficult without Bonino, who essentially was being asked to become the glue of a remade bottom six. — Rossi

Required reading

(Photo: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)