NHL: Has Crosby reached that significant point in his recovery?

Athletes who have recovered from concussions in the past have often said that one day, sometimes out of nowhere, the side effects and lingering symptoms just seem to finally go away and stay away.

Has Sidney Crosby finally reached that significant point in his recovery? Things seem to be pointing into that direction. Although no one among Crosby’s team doctors know for sure, they fully believe that the worst is over for Crosby and that Crosby might be at that point. He is expected to be re-evaluated near the end of the week by his team of his doctors who in the past couple weeks have never seen Crosby better.

Crosby has participated fully in four practice sessions, going all out in every session and not pulling back in drills.

It’s been a big 360 for Crosby who in early-to-mid August was forced to scale back his off-season workouts, because of headaches during strenuous workouts and skates.

“The practices I’ve been in have been pretty tough, pretty intense,” Crosby said on Tuesday “But I think everyone’s kind of felt that way, so I don’t feel like I’m too far behind. That being said, hitting kind of throws a whole different element in the physical part of the game. It makes it a little bit more difficult. So skating-wise and that kind of thing, it’s starting to come. When you throw some contact in there, that’ll be a new step.”

Dr. Michael Collins has said they will just know when it’s time to integrate contact. The first step will be integrating light contact and that could be coming much sooner than anyone expected.