CrosbyWatch: Sid's Brain Takes the Spotlight (Again...)

This offseason has taken more turns than any of us have anticipated. First we stayed up all hours of the night for a week hoping that a past hero would return for one final go for the flightless birds, only to then chose to pull on the sweater of our most hated rival. Then we lose Max Talbot to the same team. Up next the Pens provided us footage of Evgeni Malkin training back in Russia as if he was Ivan Drago. Well OK maybe not to that extent, but your imagination runs rampant during the offseason. We also found out, very recently, that Islanders fans are having a meet up to watch the cage match between the Pens and Islanders, as if it was a great hockey game. However, the one story that has been kind-of-but-not-so-much on the back-burner was Sidney Crosby's brain. That was until today.

Speculation about Sidney Crosby began as soon as he was diagnosed with a concussion. It never stopped any and all news about Sid became scrutinized and flipped into meaning something that it was never intended to mean. There was even a report, albeit false, that said Sid was retiring. While many of these reports stretched the facts, the scenarios they lay out could end up being true. We simply do not know the extent of damage concussions cause. However unlikely it is, Sidney Crosby may be sidelined for a longer period of time because of his concussion. It's not like a torn knee ligament where we know a player is out x number of weeks or months. 

Today, Josh Rimer (@JoshRimerHockey) of NHL Home Ice reported via Twitter that Sid wouldn't be ready to start the season:

Also hearing from 3 sources now that Sidney Crosby won't b ready 2 start season. I hope its not true because the NHL needs its best players!

I mean are we really going to take this guy seriously? "I hope its not true because the NHL needs its best players!" Really? Are we idiots? Then, NBC sports jumped on it and posted this article. Then the Pens Faithful ran rampant, planned for a miserable life and probably expected to attend Sid's funeral at some point in the next few months. However, Rob Rossi from the Trib, got the information from the GM Ray Shero. You can find the article here. Basically Shero said that Sid's offseason routine has never been shut down by the Penguins or his doctors, and that a decision to clear Sid will be made a week before Pens training camp starts on September 16th. Shero had this to say about the situation:

He will not be "pushed" to join the Penguins for on-ice practices at the start of camp or even when the regular season opens at Vancouver on Oct. 6.

"I'm only interested in making sure he's comfortable when he returns to play, end of story," Shero said. "I'm about the bigger picture with this thing."

So where do we stand with news on Sid's progress? It's simple. The Pens are not going to rush him back to the ice. As we all know he is suffering from an injury that hasn't been greatly scrutinized until the past few years, and no one really can predict the future consequences of the injury. Sid may not play hockey when the puck drops on the 2011-12 season in October. However, we will know what Sid is going to do when the Penguins tell us. Whenever a "report" comes across the internet with any little piece of information, the internet will run rampant with speculation, and will likely offer no more than speculation. What we do know is that training camp will start September 16th. We also know that everyone involved in the situation will make a decision on whether Sid can lace them up or not about a week before camp. Until then, unless we hear the words come out of Ray Shero's own mouth, we should take anything we hear with a grain of salt. While they may be a possibility, anyone can make up anything at this point with the future of Sid's health because there are no real timetables for a concussion to heal. So relax until September, watch the Pirates implode and enjoy three more games of meaningless football. It's way to early in the year to lose our sanity over hockey.