Bylsma Audio & Update on Crosby whose return is not close

Post-Practice Update

Sidney Crosby’s return to game action is still not close as the Penguins captain will miss his 10th straight game Tuesday night and his return to practice with his teammates is not likely to happen this week.

Head coach Dan Bylsma said today that Crosby has been cleared for “very light” acitivies, which is a step in the right direction but Bylsma made it a point to mention several times today that Crosby’s activity is very light at this moment.

Bylsma said that Crosby is not yet cleared for “workout mode” type of activities and indications are the bulk of Crosby’s activity has been on a stationary bike.

Crosby was diagnosed with a concussion on January 6th but the symptoms are believed to have started from David Steckles blindside hit in the Winter Classic on Jan 1.

The seriousness of this injury is severe with it being a head injury. Sometimes it takes months for players to recover with the best example being Boston’s Marc Savard who returned in the 2010 playoffs and should have never been cleared to play.

The Penguins and Crosby have to be extremely careful on not rushing back and from Crosby’s standpoint, he appears to know that, which has been a positive sign over the past couple weeks.

Click on the link below to listen to Bylsma’s comments from his media session:

Bylsma Audio: bylsma-media-session

Tidbits

*Mike Rupp was extremely happy after practice to be getting rid of his mustache after Zbynek Michalek lost the monthly shootout and is the February mustache boy.

Rupp said he was kind of nervous that he was going to lose again after not scoring on his first five opportunities.

*With the Penguins being off since last Tuesday, the all-star participants (Fleury and Letang) had a few days to enjoy their vacation time before departing for Raleigh.

Bylsma said that played a factor in wanting Fleury and Letang reporting to practice today.