Erik Karlsson absent from Penguins training camp and fans are concerned

At the beginning of training camp, Karlsson was listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury. Since then he's been held out of team practices for precautionary reasons, but has skated on his own. Now, he's missed his last 5 individual skates, and is confirmed to be out at least until next week.

Fans and media are beginning to grow concerned with this apparent setback in Karlsson's condition, and the lack of details available about the nature of his injury. For a team that's on the fringe of being a playoff team and will be relying on Karlsson to be a major part of their team, it's not a good sign for the Penguins.

Now 34 years old, the Swedish veteran of 1002 career games is considered to be one of the best offensive defenceman of his generation. Just two years ago on a terrible San Jose Sharks team, Karlsson put up an unbelievable 101 points for his career best year. He wasn't able to replicate that level of success with Pittsburgh, but he still scored 11 goals and 56 points in 82 games. He has three years left on his contract paying him $11.5M annually.

Until there's more details about the nature of Karlsson's injury, fans will only panic and speculate the worst as to why he's being held out. Hopefully Karlsson's absence isn't anything too serious, and he's able to get back on the ice for the Penguins early this season. At this point, it does look like he will likely miss the regular season opener.

Source for Karlsson Stats: Erik Karlsson - PuckPedia