| Advertisement |
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby practiced Wednesday, two days after being diagnosed with a concussion, but will miss Thursday night's season opener. Coach Mike Sullivan confirmed Crosby would not play against the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena when the Penguins raise their Stanley Cup banner.
Advertisement
Crosby skated on his own for a second consecutive day before joining Pittsburgh for his first practice since sustaining a concussion in practice Friday.
"I'm always happy when I'm on the ice," Crosby told reporters after the workout. "I'm always happy. I've been through this before I don't get too caught up in every little step.
"It's a game you want to be a part of, but at the same time, I think I've spent more than enough time being in this situation. You understand you have to be patient. You have to make sure you listen to your body. If you're ready, you're ready. If not, you don't take any chances and give yourself a lot better chance of not having it happen again."
Sullivan was cautiously optimistic about Crosby's appearance on the ice with his teammates.
"He's obviously feeling well enough that he wants to join the team for practice and get involved in some of the flow drills and that's what we did," Sullivan said. "We'll take it step by step and we're following the guidance of our medical team and we'll go from there but he's certainly making progress and that's encouraging from our standpoint."
The 29-year-old Crosby was diagnosed with the third documented concussion of his 12-year NHL career on Monday.
On Tuesday, the star center skated with injured teammate Bryan Rust, who is recovering from an undisclosed injury. Rust also took part in Wednesday's practice but was ruled out of Thursday's opener.
Crosby has a history with concussions after a collision in the 2011 Winter Classic set off a long recovery that shortened two seasons for him.
Crosby, a two-time Hart Trophy winner and runner-up last season, won the Stanley Cup for the second time in June and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sullivan said Crosby will have to go through a full-contact practice before he is cleared to play in a regular-season game.
"There's obviously a protocol that's mandated that these guys follow," Sullivan said. "Part of it is you heighten their heart rates to a certain level and as they make progress you add the intensity of their workouts and you see how they respond.
"That makes the most sense, to get him into contact drills and get him back into the intensity of a game-like environment so that when he does go back into the lineup he's prepared to succeed."
Last month, Crosby was named MVP of the World Cup of Hockey 2016 after leading all scorers with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) to help Team Canada win the tournament.
