We began today waiting to hear from Sidney Crosby and his doctors regarding Sid's prognosis for the upcoming season. What came out of the press conference seemed to be more positive than negative. What the press conference did was end all of the speculation that surfaced throughout the summer. Sid was flanked by his doctors and General Manager Ray Shero. We heard words such as "full recovery," and "long career" thrown around quite liberally. We learned that doctors were basically in constant contact with Sid throughout the offseason. We most importantly learned what the status of Sid's concussion is, and has been since he attempted to come back in April. Of course there is no timeline to when he will be fully recovered, but we do know that it is likely Sid will be in uniform this season.
Why is it taking Sid so long to get back from his concussion? It's simple, Sid is the Ferrari or the National Hockey League. When you buy a Ferrari and wreck it, you simply do not bandage it up and drive the car around 90% fixed. No, you make sure that car is 100% fixed and looking pretty before you ever drive that high-performance piece of machinery on the road. Of course because his brain operates on a higher lever, it is going to take longer to get back to that level, much like it would for a high-performance vehicle to be fully reconstructed after a wreck. However, after taking the time to fix that high-performance vehicle, it will likely perform like new.
The same thing goes in Sid's case because he plays the game on a completely different level than most, if not all of the players in the league. Sid's brain needs to be functioning at the level that allows him to make the decisions that only Sidney Crosby makes on the ice.
Dr.Michael Collins, and Dr. Ted Carrick both expressed that Sid has made "exceptional" recovery from his injury, and both were optimistic that he will make a full recovery from his concussion suffered a little over eight months ago. The doctors were also confident that with their plan, Sid will not have any long-term consequences from his concussion.
Of course Sid was asked whether he ever thought about retirement and simply answered the question with a "No." This question was followed up with a question asking about the possibility of never being able to lace the skates again, and Sid delivered the line of the press conference:
“Pretty slight. I wouldn’t bet on that.”So it seems that Sid will be back in the lineup at some point this season, which is great news for the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans. However, what is more important is that doctors are optimistic that Sid will fully recover from this injury and potentially will not suffer any life-long consequences. Huge news for Pens fans and huge news for Sid himself.
However, now we play the waiting game, on when Sid can return to the line up. This is a waiting game that Pens fans should be fine with participating in. From what the doctors said, we will have Sid in our lives for some time once he gets back to being Sid. As stated above, a 90% Sidney Crosby will not be the Sidney Crosby we are all accustomed to. We need Sid firing on all cylinders and we won't enjoy Sid if he is not. There is no hurry. This team will survive while Sid continues his recovery.
Another thing this press conference did was put an end to all the speculation surrounding Sid's concussion from day one. We heard doctors explaining exactly what happened to Sid, and how Sid has progressed. Not one thing that the doctors reported matched up with any of the speculative, world ending rumors that spread like wildfire across the internet earlier in the summer.
While some in the media were questioning Sid's commitment to the team, by not providing more information over the offseason, and the Penguins for not providing frequent updates, but were silenced because the Pens and Sid had it covered. Just because the team nor Sid was talking much this offseason didn't mean that there was bad news that was imminent.
Overall, the Penguins and Crosby have proven that they have handled this very well, and that Sid was taken care of by the best concussion specialists in the world.
You can watch the full press conference below.
No comments:
Post a Comment