Pittsburgh Penguins keen on centre Sidney Crosby’s second coming-NHL News
Following the appearance of centre, Sidney Crosby, in practice on Tuesday, March 06, 2012, Pittsburgh Penguins have become anxious for second coming of the player to have more depth in the squad.
Crosby’s participation in the team’s training and drills set fresh hopes for his return most likely on Sunday, March 11, 2012.
Mario Lemieux, who is one of few players who had an injury-riddled National Hockey League (NHL) career, is hopeful of Crosby’s chances of joining the squad in near future.
Lemieux, who now comments on the injury related issues confronting the NHL players, said that he understood the situation that Crosby has been going through.
He said:
"It's never fun to be on the sidelines, especially with Sid's injury. It's a little different than back surgery or hip surgery or anything else out there. You have to be patient. But I think he's getting better, he's getting close to being back on the ice.
And it's going to be exciting when he gets back."
During his playing tenure, Lemieux suffered a series of back problems, hip injury, cancer, heart-related problems and many other health issues, which affected his career.
Having remained in and out of the side on many occasions, he was able to have a successful career and contributed towards the team’s performance and wins as well as to the game of hockey more than many of his fellow players.
Crosby has not played for the team for last 41 consecutive games and could only manage to participate in eight games earlier in the season.
His last return to the side had happened after 11 months as he was out with the concussion problem and it was rather unfortunate for him to sit out for another three months, since suffering from the same injury, which was first reported on December 05, 2011.
It was for the first time on Tuesday that he showed up on the ice in last three months, and did workout with his teammates. He is now expected to do more training on Friday and the weekend.
The player is expected to play Sunday’s game against the Boston Bruins.
No one is waiting for the return of the player more than coach, Dan Bylsma, who is yet to settle down on his players’ placement.
He is expected to have the required depth on roster and could reshuffle the players at the positions, which he sees weaker at the moment.
Bylsma said:
"I think it's natural to have thought long before (Tuesday) about where Sidney would play and what line he would play on. There's certainly a lot of thought been given to that-had conversations with Sidney about that, as well."
The coach’s worries are expected to be resolved with the return of the player hopefully for a longer period of time.
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