Stop speculating on returns of Crosby, Malkin

By Jeff

Words can't describe how excited Pittsburgh Penguins fans were when they heard Sidney Crosby was skating last month. After months of uncertainty regarding his recovery from a concussion he received in January, fans finally had something to clue them in to his return.

Too bad his return is just as cloudy today as it has been since the day after Crosby was concussed.

We've all seen the exploding water bottle video. We've seen Crosby doing all kinds of drills and looking as good as ever while doing them. We just haven't seen him in a game and no one knows when we will. That won't stop national media and fans from constantly speculating on when he will be back. Every day there is a story on whether Crosby skated or not, like it means something in the grand scheme of things. But the truth is Crosby has a strict schedule he follows, and that schedule includes days off. So just because he's not skating, it doesn't mean he is suffering headaches or other conditions.

This bromance is probably on a "break" until October.

All we know about Crosby is that he is "two stages" away from a return, as Dan Bylsma says. Too bad Bylsma won't tell anyone what those two stages are. One can assume the first stage is full-contact practices, but after that it's just guesswork.

As if the constant Crosby speculation wasn't enough, there is now word spreading that Evgeni Malkin might return during these playoffs.

Yes, this is the same Malkin who tore his ACL and MCL Feb. 4 in a game against Buffalo and needed surgery on his ACL. He has participated in light skating a few times over the last week, so now people are saying he might be back before Crosby.

What?

The guy who tore his ACL and is just now starting to skate again will be back before the guy who has been symptom-free (I assume Crosby wouldn't be allowed to skate and practice if he was experiencing symptoms.) and skating for a month? Am I really supposed to believe this?

Let's get one thing straight, no one is seeing these guys play in the playoffs if the Penguins don't beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in their first-round series. So let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Now that I've stated the obvious, I request that everyone stop talking about Crosby and Malkin until their names are in the lineup. In defense of some of these speculators, Crosby Fever hit me pretty good when I saw he returned to skating. With other players on the team who suffered concussions, they just needed a week of symptom-free skate before they were cleared. So, by the way of thinking, Crosby was close. OK, so I forgot that Crosby is the face of the franchise and league while the other guys were on near minimum salaries and might not be back next year.

But the continued Crosby watch (He's practicing with the fourth line instead of the fifth!) and now the Malkin talk has annoyed me. Blog contributor Joe made a great point today, as he does often, in that fans and the team can't count on these two coming back this year. Statements like, "If only we had Crosby or Malkin" or "We're doing well now, just wait until Crosby and Malkin come back" are silly. The team doesn't have Crosby and Malkin and might not until October. If one or both come back, then it means the team is on to the next round and you can get excited. But for now, stop asking about these guys everyday and enjoy the team taking the ice every night.

Peter Gabriel - Here Comes The Flood