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Sidney Crosby resumes on-ice workouts for first time since April

Sidney Crosby

In this photo provided by www.PittsburghPenguins.com, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby returns to the ice for the first time, Monday, March 14, 2011, since missing 29 NHL hockey games with a concussion in Pittsburgh. Crosby practiced in full gear for about 15 minutes at the Consol Energy Center. (AP Photo/www.PittsburghPenguins.com)

AP

It’s been a couple months since the last Sidney Crosby update. Depending on your feelings on Crosby, that could either be the best news possible or an excruciating dry-spell without information. When the best player in the game misses the last four months of his season with post-concussion symptoms, it’s a big deal. When we go for a few weeks (or months) without any clue of progress—it’s a situation that can make Penguins fans wonder if he’ll be back for next season.

It sounds like Crosby has hit the rink for his offseason workouts. The on-ice workouts are the first since he tried to give it a go during the first round of the playoffs in April. He started to get headaches and the team doctors shut him down for the rest of the season. From that perspective, it’s great for Crosby to be back on the ice.

Rob Rossi from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review has been tracking the story and broke the news:

“Penguins center Sidney Crosby has resumed on-ice workouts, the team and his agent confirmed tonight.

The on-ice workouts are part of his regular summer training program.

He last participated in on-ice workouts in April while the Penguins played in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs before he was shut down because of headaches.

Crosby’s confidants believe those headaches were the result of a sinus infection and not a recurrence of concussion symptoms.”


News that the headaches in April could have been caused by anything other than post-concussion symptoms must be music to Penguins’ fans ears. It goes without saying that the Penguins are a different team with Crosby in the line-up. They were able to surprise the hockey world by finishing 4th in the Eastern Conference despite injuries to Crosby and fellow superstar center Evgeni Malkin. Malkin was able to step onto the ice in April as well, as he was recovering from a knee injury that he suffered at the beginning of February.

It’s a virtual certainty that Malkin will be available to start training camp—but Crosby’s post-concussion symptoms have been much harder to predict. Despite only playing in 41 games last season, Pittsburgh’s captain still finished with 32 goals and 66 points. His 66 points was good enough for 30th in the NHL and tied him with players like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Rick Nash, and Joe Pavelski. His 32 goals put him at 14th in the NHL and tied him with guys like Alexander Ovechkin, Jonathan Toews, and Thomas Vanek (among others). He was able to put up those kinds of numbers even though he only played exactly half of the season.

Sometimes people forget just how dominant he was at the beginning of last season. The good news for Pittsburgh is that he’s right on schedule for a return at the beginning of training camp next year. He still hasn’t been cleared for on-ice contact, but that’s not something he’d be doing in the middle of July anyway. He’s out on the ice and he’s right on schedule. Sometimes the status quo is good news.

We’ll continue to update the story as the summer progresses. If things go well, he’ll be at training camp ready for contact for the first time since January 5th. Until then, all the Penguins can do is monitor how his body reacts to his time on the ice.