Dominik Kahun’s concussion rehab took another important step forward when the Penguins forward joined Thursday’s practice wearing a non-contact jersey.
During a fairly spirited and lengthy practice, Kahun took part in a variety of drills. That included some of the line rushes and skill work. There’s still no target date for a return to game action.
“I skated a lot,” Kahun said. “It was some hard work. I didn’t feel actually bad. Being out there with other people again, the timing was new for me again.”
Kahun was initially concussed during the Penguins’ 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins on Jan. 19 at PPG Paints Arena. The timing of the injury was both fortunate and unfortunate, depending how you choose to look at it.
On one hand, even though Kahun has been sidelined three-and-a-half-weeks, he’s only missed six games because of the NHL’s All-Star break and the Penguins’ off week. On the other hand, Kahun had just earned more regular top-six minutes playing alongside Evgeni Malkin. His chance to make the most of that opportunity was cut short — or at least hit the pause button.
Kahun skated individually with skills coach Ty Hennes for more than a week prior to Thursday. The 24-year-old, Czech-born skater has some experience coming back from concussions. About three years ago while playing in Germany, he was held out for about a week when his team believed he may have a head injury.
“It’s a different injury,” Kahun said. “When you get something with your hand or your legs, you just know what happened. You know the time to recover. With this, you never know. It can take one week. It can take a month. Every guy is different.
“I’m still taking my time. I want to be really 100% before I play again.”
In 48 games, Kahun has tallied 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists). When he rejoins the lineup, it will give the Penguins some flexibility to use their forwards in different ways, especially after the addition of Jason Zucker.
“We’ll see how he responds to the practice today, and then ultimately the next step is full contact before he returns to play,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “But that fact that he rejoined the team is real encouraging from our standpoint because it means he’s at the next stage.”
Zucker getting up to speed
Quickness was one of the main attributes the Penguins coveted when they traded for Zucker earlier this week. But even for one of the league’s faster players, it takes some time to get up to speed on a new team.
“Throughout their system, they’re reading plays a lot quicker and trying to get out of the zone a lot quicker and using that tempo and that pace,” Zucker said. “In Minnesota, everything was little bit different in how we broke out the puck and different plays. It will just be getting used to that. Even from the first to third [periods during Tuesday’s game], it was a little bit better. Game 1 to Game 5 will be a big adjustment. I think it will be great.”
In addition to learning a new system and new teammates, he’s also had to juggle the logistical challenges that come with an unexpected move to a new city. He spent most of the day on the phone on Wednesday. He’s hoping to get his wife and kids to visit Pittsburgh this weekend. But they are likely to stay in Minnesota, at least until the end of this school year when his oldest daughter finishes fourth grade.
“Obviously, I’d love nothing more than for them to be here every second of every day,” Zucker said. “But right now, we’ve got to figure that out as far as my daughter being in school and those things. For me, my wife is a rock star. She’s got it all figured out. She runs the house and makes sure that everything works the way it’s supposed to.”
We’re learning 💛🖤 @Jason_Zucker16 pic.twitter.com/pW0IitWlTS
— Carly Zucker (@CarlyAplin) February 14, 2020
Pardon my French
The Penguins and corporate partner Duolingo, a Pittsburgh-based language learning app, will team up to present “French Language Night” when the Penguins take on the Montreal Canadiens on Friday at PPG Paints Arena.
Max Talbot, a 2009 Stanley Cup champion, will serve as the Penguins’ “French Language Night Ambassador.” He’ll work alongside public address announcer Ryan Mill to make numerous announcements in French during the game.
Many of the Penguins know at least a little French, including Montreal native Kris Letang, who is fluent.
“It’s ‘French Language Night’ every night at my house,” he joked.
Captain Sidney Crosby is another one of the Penguins who can parle Francais. He learned some basic French vocabulary in school and then polished his skills while playing for the Rimouski Océanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
“When you’re in it and everyone around you speaks French — your teammates, coaches, things like that — it really kind of fast-tracks everything,” Crosby said.
Even now, in an area where Pittsburghese is the first language, Crosby finds ways to use his second language. Earlier this year, for example, he surprised prospect and Montreal-area native Nathan Legare, with a few words of French.
“It used to be a lot more when I was sitting next to [Marc-Andre Fleury] on the plane,” Crosby said. “But I usually try to sprinkle some in there with [Letang].”
Mike DeFabo: mdefabo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDeFabo.
First Published: February 13, 2020, 9:29 p.m.
