Sidney Crosby, seen in his last NHL game against the Boston Bruins Dec. 5, is out indefinitely after reporting he was suffering from concussion-like symptoms. (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux, Zdeno Chara, Mike Green, Brian Gionta, Jeff Skinner and Terry Murray were names in the news on a manic Monday in the NHL. But not a single member of this group of seven was mentioned in a positive update.
Crosby continues to suffer from concussion-like symptoms and is out indefinitely. Giroux feels better from his head injury he suffered on Saturday, when the skate of his Philadelphia Flyers teammate Wayne Simmonds clipped him in the helmet. But the NHL's leading point getter likely will miss the Flyers' next outing on Tuesday.
Chara, the Boston Bruins captain, is day-to-day with a leg injury. One report stated he could miss at least the next three games. Green visited with a specialist on Monday. The Washington Capitals defenceman has missed 14 games with a right groin injury. He is expected to join his teammates on a road trip later this week, but coupled with an early-season ankle injury, the offensive blue-liner has missed 20 of the Capitals' last 21 games.
Montreal Canadiens captain Gionta is at least another week with an undisclosed lower-body ailment. Carolina Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller reported on Monday that sophomore forward Skinner is questionable with an undisclosed injury for his team's next game on Tuesday.
Finally, Terry Murray's time behind the Los Angeles Kings bench has ended. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant John Stevens, who was a head coach with the Flyers. The Kings have dropped four in a row and have had difficulty scoring goals so far this season. Only the New York Islanders (62) have scored fewer goals than the Kings' 65.
No timetable for Crosby
While all this news was distressing, the uncertainty surrounding Crosby's latest setback received most of the attention. The Pittsburgh captain did not practice with his Penguins teammates on Monday, but met with reporters afterward.
"Not bad," said Crosby, when asked how he felt. "I'm not happy about watching. But I have to make sure with these sorts of things that I'm careful and making sure I'm 100 per cent before coming back. No timetable."
Feeling 100 per cent has been a common theme in Crosby's concussion episode. Although he looked ready for a return to action right from the beginning of training camp, No. 87 did not resume playing until the Penguins 20th game of the season on Nov. 21 against the New York Islanders.
In his 10th game back last Monday, Crosby was involved in a handful of collisions in Pittsburgh's 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. The closest hit to a headshot was an elbow from Bruins centre David Krejci early in the game, but Crosby also was rocked in a knee-on-knee collision with linemate Chris Kunitz later.
"I know I got hit in the head there [by Krejci], but I felt like I was pretty good after that," Crosby said. "I didn't feel like it was anything too major. But if I had to look at one hit, yeah."
Crosby did not participate in practice last Tuesday, the day after the Bruins game, but he was back on the ice on Wednesday. The Penguins, however, issued a release later that day that stated the native of Cole Harbour, N.S., would miss the next two games. Now Crosby will miss a third outing when the Penguins play host to the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow evening.
Crosby admitted he had a headache last week and has suffered concussion-like symptoms in the past few days. But Crosby didn't elaborate on what other symptoms he has experienced.
"I've been doing light exertion [exercise] and seeing how that goes," he said. "It's that whole routine again, but hopefully not as long. When I wasn't doing something for six, seven months that process was a little longer. Hopefully, that's not the case here."
Crosby, who missed 10½ months after he suffered a concussion last January, did pass his Impact concussion test that was administered last Tuesday.
"I did my Impact test and it went pretty good," Crosby said. "That was a good sign. It's much different than previously going through that stuff. That was encouraging. I skated following day after with exertion. I just didn't feel right. After talking with everyone I figured it was better to be cautious and not take any chances. That's where I'm at right now.
"The Impact isn't everything. You have to listen to your body on these things too. That was encouraging. My Impact was much, much worse after I did it in January. This is something I have to be careful with.
"After talking with everyone, I just figured it was better to be cautious here and not take any chances. That's kind of where I'm at right now."
Tim Wharnsby
Tim's worked the sports beat at The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Sun, specializing in Canada's one true sporting obsession - hockey. He knows the players, the coaches, the backroom boys and most importantly, the fans. That's what he brings to his stories. Knowledge, fairness and understanding are trademarks of a Wharnsby story. That's what you will get here as he writes for CBCSports.ca.
