Sidney Crosby is finished.
Extreme words, I know. However, Sidney Crosby is out again after what, at the most, can be classified as a soft elbow to the head from David Krejci. Watch for yourself here (skip to 1:11 for slow motion). It’s possible the first time watch the video you won’t even notice the hit. The hit occurs a few seconds into the video but it is rather inconspicuous.
Once again, Sid the Kid is day-to-day with his concussion-like symptoms but not the day-to-day that we normally associate with injuries. His status as day-to-day refers to the media’s coverage of his status, wondering when Crosby will be back on the ice. Sadly, Sidney Crosby is out indefinitely and, although he insists that he is not back at square one, you have to wonder if this last hit has put him on the Eric Lindros road of perpetual concussions.
Crosby took 11 months off. Like a Dad crossing the street with his 3-year-old child, he decided to play it really safe instead of being really sorry. I repeat, he played it really safe. Unlike the first hit from Dave Steckel that should have put him out, Crosby didn’t want to play with fire this time. In the end though, it only took a minor hit from David Krejci to put him on the shelf. This wasn’t your Scott Stevens on Eric Lindros garbage. This was peewee minor hockey stuff.
This isn’t a movie either. What doesn’t kill Sidney Crosby isn’t going to make him stronger. Each subsequent concussion makes Crosby more fragile than the Dallas Cowboys in the 4th quarter. By now it’s common knowledge to sports fans that if you’ve had one concussion, you are much more likely to have another. At the same time, it’s supposed to take more than what Krejci did to Crosby. Sid is only 24 and is already having to deal with more serious concussion issues.
Is Crosby more prone to concussions than others? Is Crosby simply the recipient of some old fashioned bad luck?
Apparently, I’m not a doctor, as one individual was kind enough point out to me in e-mail form following one of my post’s inquiries into the nature of Ryan Kesler’s injury prior to last year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Nevertheless, common sense can tell you a lot of what you need to know sometimes. My common sense this year is telling me that Sidney Crosby is never going to be the same.
This is one of the few instances where I hope I’m not right.
I have no idea what Sidney Crosby’s doctors are telling him but the fact that he is back up in the press box watching games and sitting out of practice is as bad a sign as it gets. What’s even worse is that we are hearing the same thing coming out of Crosby’s and head coach Dan Bylsma’s mouth. According to Sid, “there is no timetable” for his return. According to Bylsma, “Sid knows his body better than anybody else” and “He’ll return to practice and playing when he is feeling 100 percent.”
100 percent took 11 months last time around.
This time around, before you can say post-concussion symptoms, the best thing that has happened to hockey since Mario Lemieux could be out of the game altogether . Unfortunately, this might be the beginning of the end for Sidney Crosby.
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