My guess is all of this is just Rusty has something going on outside of hockey that needs his attention right now. DM and Tip just either got their lines mixed, or never discussed, what to tell the media hence the mixed messages. I don't buy DM's injury line since they've never been afraid of saying guys are out for a maintenance day before and it's not like people would suddenly clue into Rusty being injury prone by missing one more game. Don't think it was a possible trade either since he missed practice today.
Whatever it is, injury or not, hope it's not too serious and that Rusty can be back soon.