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Columnist: Some Penguins think Crosby should be playing

Sidney Crosby

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Dejan Kovacevic caught the attention of many with his latest piece, “Crosby deserves better”. In it, Kovacevic discusses developments around Camp Crosby and the Penguins -- how badly Crosby wants to play, his issues with balance, rumblings of him wanting to leave Pittsburgh -- but one note stood out above the rest.

From the Tribune-Review:

A few, certainly not all, of Crosby’s teammates are of the mind that he’s been symptom-free for a while, though they have no medical basis for that. Some think he should be playing. Some simply think he should be doing more to communicate, or at least be as visible as concussed defenseman Kris Letang.

Last week in Pittsburgh, according to three sources, a group of players held a 45-minute meeting to discuss a temporary captaincy.

The Penguins are mired in a six-game losing streak in which the offense has completely disappeared. They’ve scored just six times during the streak and were shut out in Washington on Wednesday, so an increase in frustration is understandable. But there’s a big leap from being pissed off to questioning the severity of a teammate’s injury and if Kovacevic’s piece is accurate, a few Penguins have already made the jump.

“Moaning about who’s wearing the ‘C’?,” Kovacevic writes. “There are plenty enough viable leaders in that room right now who should be holding themselves accountable for this losing streak.”

Granted, the optics around this situation haven’t been great. There’s been a sideshow element around the entire Crosby concussion saga -- the hordes of reporters, the “Sid is a Ferrari” presser, the endless speculation -- so it’s not entirely surprising some Penguins are tired of it. It’s been over a year since Crosby was first diagnosed with a concussion.

That said, it should take a lore more than a six-game losing streak (which came on the heels of a four-game winning streak) for the daggers to come out, no? And if they really are out, some serious questions have to be asked of the Pens dressing room.