PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) – FSN hockey analyst Jay Caufield joined The FAN Morning Show to talk Penguins hockey.

Caufield talked about the loss of left winger Chris Kunitz before the game and how that affected the Penguins’ play last night.

Caufield is expecting a league suspension of Matt Cooke for his hit on Fedor Tyutin in the first period of Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He said, although Cooke “plays the game hard,” when you see the players’ numbers on the back you can’t run him into the boards.

Caufield thinks the team can still be successful with the call ups from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but they will have to play with the same intensity of the current Penguins.

The Sidney Crosby injury still remains a mystery about when he will return and that leaves a lot of questions for General Manager Ray Shero heading into the trade deadline.

Caufield suggests Shero should go into the deadline expecting Crosby to return this season because he has the ability to make a lot of moves now that he has cap room with Malkin on long-term injured reserve.

Caufield said once Crosby is cleared to start practicing again it might take 10 days or more to get back in a game.