Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson won’t skate at all this weekend due to the upper-body injury that has kept him out of training camp so far, reports Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). That’s actually a step in the wrong direction as the veteran had been skating on his own earlier in the week. Head coach Mike Sullivan stated that the team will assess the plan for him early next week. At this point, it’s starting to look like the 34-year-old might not be available for the season opener which would be tough for them. While Karlsson wasn’t able to duplicate his 2022-23 season numbers with Pittsburgh last year, he still collected 56 points in 82 games while logging over 24 minutes a night which will be hard to replace, even on a short-term basis.