Blood Clot Diagnosis Will Force Pittsburgh Penguins Forward to Miss Significant Time

Penguins forward Filip Hallander has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg, the team announced on Friday. He'll be sidelined for a minimum of three months, but it could likely be more.

He will undergo rehabilitation in Pittsburgh, in conjunction with the team's medical staff and the doctors from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Hallander has only missed the game vs. the Capitals so far. He played against the Maple Leafs on Monday and practiced on Wednesday, but left the session early, which sparked concern.

Head coach Dan Muse said before yesterday's win over the Capitals that Hallander was day-to-day with an undisclosed issue, presumably a cover-up story while he was undergoing diagnostic testing.

Even in the best-case scenario, Hallander will be out of action until after the Olympic break in Italy. After serving as a healthy scratch in the season opener, Hallander had made 13 consecutive appearances until being diagnosed with a blood clot.

He had scored one goal and added three assists for a total of four points with a +4 rating. He was averaging 13:09 of ice time per game.

A second-round pick back in 2018, Hallander was kicking off his second stint with the Penguins after spending the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with Timra IK in his homeland of Sweden.

Hallander previously split the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns between Pittsburgh and AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, racking up his first three career NHL appearances over those seasons.