The Penguins announced right winger Pascal Dupuis will be sidelined four to five weeks due to an undisclosed “lower-body” injury.

Dupuis suffered the injury late in practice Sunday at Consol Energy Center and has not participated in practices at the team’s workout facility in Cranberry the past two days.

“It was late in the practice on Sunday,“ said head coach Mike Johnston. ”Pretty well everyone was off the ice when it happened and he went right to the trainers. Most of us thought, 'Gee it doesn't look too bad.' Then on further examination we found out different. We'll see how he it is. But right now, it's frustrating for him but he'll be fine in a couple of days. You know he is. He's got lots of energy, lots of focus. He'll be determined to be back as soon as he can.“

Monday, Johnston said Dupuis was held out of practice for precautionary reasons and suggested he could resume practicing today.

“I saw him pull up there at practice the other day,” said center Sidney Crosby. “Whenever you see that, you're not sure what to think. It's tough to see that obviously. He's worked really hard for a long time to get back to this point. We're just going to have to wait a little bit longer.“

With today’s 5 p.m. deadline for NHL rosters to be compliant with the salary cap, the Penguins must figure out what to do with their roster which for the time being includes Dupuis as well as fellow injured forwards Eric Fehr (left elbow) and Tom Kuhnhackl (undisclosed).

The Penguins’ first two games are in Dallas and Arizona. With a western road trip, they may need to recall an extra forward from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in case another forward is injured.

”We're going to look that with management today,“ Johnston said when asked if an extra forward would need recalled. ”I haven't had a chance to sit down with them today. We usually connect after practice with [general manager] Jim Rutherford and [associate general manager Jason Botterill] and assistant general manager Bill Guerin] just to see where everybody's at.“

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One player who is here defenseman Tim Erixon. He cleared waivers at noon and remains on the NHL roster for the time being.

”We're going to keep eight defensemen right now,“ Johnston said. ”We like our depth for practice. For me, having four lines and four [defensive pairings] in practice is an advantage. As with defensemen that are here, if it turns out if they are here, if it turns out that they aren't playing a lot over the next little while, if one of the defensemen aren't, then we'd obviously like to get them playing time and we can easily move some people back and fourth [from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton]. But right now, that's the plan. He's had a good preseason and we want to see him develop here.“

Erixon, who has been moved around six different NHL teams since being drafted in the first round of 2009, is happy to have not joined a seventh team.

”Yeah, I am,” Erixon said. ”It feels like a really good fit for me here. I enjoy the way we play and I'm excited to be here. Just keep plugging away and working at it.“

It was the second time Erixon had gone through waivers in his career. Last season, the Blackhawks waived him and he was claimed by the Maple Leafs.

”The first time was in Chicago when [right winger Patrick Kane] went down there a couple days before [last season's trade deadline],“ said Erixon. ”That was even more nervous. I'd say this [time], I knew the reason. But it's weird right? For 24 hours, you don't really know what's going to happen. Like I said, I'm glad to be here. It's a good spot.“

Erixon declined to say if he would be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton when asked if management had given him any indication on where he may end up once he cleared waivers.

”I don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about that stuff,“ Erixon said. ”You'll find out pretty soon. I know what's happening.“

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The Penguins’ lines at practice today were identical to Monday’s practice.

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Phil Kessel

Sergei Plotnikov - Evgeni Malkin - Patric Hornqvist

David Perron - Nick Bonino - Beau Bennett

Bobby Farnham - Matt Cullen - Daniel Sprong

Kris Letang - Ian Cole

Ben Lovejoy - Olli Maatta

Brian Dumoulin - Rob Scuderi

Adam Clendening - Tim Erixon

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-The Penguins are scheduled to fly today to Texas in advance of their season opening game in Dallas Thursday.