Smart move by the Penguins yesterday to issue a release updating the status of Sidney Crosby and documenting what he’s gone through this offseason.
While Crosby’s statements didn’t shed any new light on the situation, as we mentioned in the blog yesterday, it was probably time he said something.
“I appreciate all the support I’ve received from my family, friends, teammates and fans and from the entire Penguins organization,” Crosby said. “I know they only want the best for my health, and for me to be fully ready when I return to game action.”
And unless something major happens during his recovery I don’t expect to hear from Crosby again until camp.
So now we know…
… When he cranked his training up to 90 per cent this summer he started to experience headaches and his program was appropriately altered.
… He’s been seeing specialists in both Michigan and Georgia who believe that Crosby will recover from his concussion and play hockey again. However, as has been stressed numerous times there is no timeline for his return.
… Both Crosby and the Penguins are going to continue to take their time with this recovery and he won’t play until he’s 100 per cent ready.
Would it surprise me if Crosby was ready for the start of the season? No.
Would it surprise me if Crosby wasn’t ready for the start of the season? No and it shouldn’t surprise you either.
The frustrating part of concussions is there is no set time for recovery. Some players barely miss a game, others a few, some a season and many have had their careers ended by them.
But let’s not make that gigantic leap and put Crosby in that latter category. This is a player who conducting his life in preparation for a return to the NHL. He’s working out, skating and doing all the things that every player does as the summer winds down and training camp approaches.
As Greg Wyshynski from Puck Daddy points out, this should calm down the Chicken Little’s screams about retirement.
“What’s clear is that he has a desire to work through this and return to hockey, which hopefully puts the hyperbolic “hang up the skates Kid” talk to rest.”
If the doctors are correct and Crosby does return to the NHL, you have to wonder what level of scrutiny will be placed on every hit he initiates or absorb? Each time he cuts hard to the net, crashes into the boards, gets fouled by a stick or elbow or, heaven forbid, fights (he does that occasionally, you know) the lens around the microscope that follows him 24/7 will turn and focus even sharper.
But that’s the “hold-your-breath” part of this story and we’re not there — yet.
Speaking of concussions, it seems Colorado’s Peter Mueller’s issues may be over and his return to the Avs’ lineup a reality this season after missing every regular season game last year. Adrian Dater of the Denver Post has this from Mueller today:
“I’m excited to be a hockey player again,” Mueller told Adrian Dater of the Denver Post in his first public comments since last September. “Obviously, I’ve had concussions in the past and it’s something I have to deal with, but right now everything is in the right direction. Everything is pointing forward. I’m excited that it’s all behind me.”
Here’s a piece from the Stratford Gazette on former Culliton Mark Bell trying for another shot at the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks. I’ve said many times that I don’t cheer for teams but I do cheer for players and Bell is one of them. Yes, he’s had problems but he’s always refused to quit and always accepted the consequences of his actions. I’m in his corner.
In yesterday’s blog I mentioned legendary minor league tough guy Jon Mirasty and his first fight in the KHL against Alexander Svitov. Expect many more to come as his team in Russia, Vityaz, is kinda known as the goon squad over there with ownership not only approving of annual muggings but actually encouraging it. Anyway, if you know anything about Mirasty, he’s raw-bone tough and willing to take on all comers. And no matter if he wins or loses, and he has lost his share, he’s always game. Connaisseurs of the fight game always cite his LNAH feud with Steve Bosse from ’05-’07 one of the best hockey’s ever seen. Enjoy.
The Washington Capitals signed 2010 third-round pick Stanislav Galiev to a three-year entry-level deal. Galiev was a big part of the Saint John Sea Dogs team that won the Memorial Cup last year and depending on who they get back from NHL training camps (and that should be just about everybody) they may repeat.
The San Antonio Rampage signed Justin Vaive, former NHLer Rick Vaive’s son, to an AHL deal. Vaive had been playing at Miami University (CCHA). Originally a draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks, Vaive never signed a contract and coming out of college was a free agent. During the lockout in 2005, I went to a lot of minor midget games and watched Vaive play on one of the best teams I ever saw at that level, the Toronto Marlboros AAA squad that featured John Tavares, Sam Gagner, Brendan Smith and Akim Aliu. They lost one game all season, and that was at a tournament.
Congrats to former Toronto Marlies play-by-play voice John Bartlett who becomes the new radio voice of the Montreal Canadiens this season. In the first two years of the Marlies I worked colour with John (both of us hired by Sportsnet’s John Shannon who ran Leafs TV at that time) and was impressed not only by his knowledge and love of the game but also his preparation, which was above-and-beyond. From Day 1 you knew he was destined for the NHL. Montreal is getting a good one. Bonne chance, Barts!
On this day in hockey history
1938 The Montreal Maroons suspended operations in the NHL. The ‘time-out’ was only supposed to last one season but the Maroons were done. They were the last team that had won the Stanley Cup in their history to either move or fold. New York Islanders I’m looking your direction. Little known fact: The Montreal Forum was actually built for the Maroons not the Canadiens.
1939 A truly horrible story. Babe Siebert, who had just retired playing hockey to accept the head coaching position with the Montreal Canadiens died in a horrible drowning accident in Zurich, ON. Siebert had swum out to fetch an inflatable tube his kids had been playing with in the water and never made it back to the dock. His children watched their father drown. Afterwards the NHL organized an All Star game with the proceeds going to his wife and kids. Every penny of the money raised was necessary to support the Siebert family as his wife had been paralyzed since delivering their second child and Babe had to literally carry her in and out of the Montreal Forum before and after games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964.
1958 Bill Derlago born in Birtle, Manitoba. Played with Vancouver, Toronto, Boston, Winnipeg and Quebec from 1979-’87. I always felt Derlago had the skills to be amongst the game’s elite but the desire just didn’t seem to ever be there. In junior, he played on one of the best lines ever with Ray Allison and Brian Propp with the Brandon Wheat Kings. (Derlago pinned up 178 points on the board in one season). Early in his NHL career with the Canucks, Derlago was caught by a punishing check by Islanders defenseman Denis Potvin that tore up his knee.
1997 One of the greatest American hockey players ever, and the man Herb Brooks always said was the best freshman in the history of the University of Minnesota hockey, Neal Broten, retired after 17 seasons. Interesting note, during his contract holdout in ’91 with Minnesota, one of the dealmakers was then-GM Bobby Clarke, who promised Broten he would never be traded to a Canadian team.