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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Pens-Panthers: Pre-game Injury Update

A couple of injury updates of note. First, the news on Sidney Crosby is that there is... no news. Despite reports, Crosby did not meet with his doctor to get cleared for contact. Crosby plans to meet with his doctor this week, but insists it's a routine visit and nothing more. Sid indicates he's still feeling great and closer to returning, but wouldn't speculate when that return would be.


Relentless Analysis: Reports are even his return to contact will be tiered in multiple levels. Sid must be symptom free at each level before progressing. Even once he is cleared for contact, it's going to still take a bit of time before he dresses for a game. Sit tight, folks. Sid's close, but Sid's not that close.

In other news, Evgeni Malkin is not going to play tonight according to Dan Bylsma. Bylsma reported that Geno is still encountering "soreness" that has plagued him since partway through Saturday's contest in Calgary. Malkin apparently did skate this morning, but did not participate fully. Bylsma identified Malkin as "day-to-day."


Relentless Analysis: While it is still early in the season and it is against a significantly weaker opponent, you can't help but agree with at least one local reporter that Malkin desperately wanted to be on the ice for the home opener. Having already sat out in Edmonton on Sunday evening, sitting out another game two nights later makes it a good three nights since Geno's "soreness" prevented him from playing. If there was a single incident you could point to as the culprit it would be easier to interpret what exactly happened, but no event stands out. Last we saw Geno on the ice he was favoring his leg/knee/ankle, but Bylsma insists that this has nothing to do with his season-ending surgery last year. 


Whatever the case, I can't remember the last time I heard of a hockey player missing two games for "soreness"...

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