Sid Out For A Week

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The Penguins announced today that Sidney Crosby will be shut down for a week as he continues to recover from a high ankle sprain. He missed 21 games after injuring the ankle in January and returned for three games before missing Wednesday night's victory over Buffalo.

The Penguins are 12-6-4 without Crosby in the lineup.

Crosby said he would be playing if the team was currently in the playoffs.

"There's no real cure," Crosby said. "Time will heal it."

Still sore.

[...]

His first game back could be Saturday when the Penguins host New Jersey which currently leads the division by one point over the Penguins.

Marian Hossa (knee) said he is hopeful of playing Sunday against the Flyers. Petr Sykora (back) did not practice Friday. Max Talbot (ankle) practiced and said he will play against Philadelphia.

Ugh. Well, it's better to be safe than sorry, and frankly, I'm sort of glad that Sid, who is obviously not 100%, will not be subjected to the Broad Street Bullies on Sunday. They've already shown the hockey world that suspensions don't phase them, and I certainly would not put it past them to target Sid the way a lion targets the injured gazelle. And since our big guns (Gary Roberts & Georges Laraque) are both out (injury and 3-game suspension, respectively), there's not someone there to put out with Sid in case things get nasty. (Don't worry! I didn't forget about Ryan Malone, but he'll have his hands full regulating the jagoffs that screw with Geno.)

DON'T COME BACK AGAIN UNTIL YOU'RE READY, SID.

Also, I wanted to say this for clarification purposes: I finally had a chance to see Laraque's elbowing incident again in a replay - as much as it sucks, he deserves the suspension. He definitely brought his elbow up as he passed Nathan Paetsch, who may miss the rest of the season following the resulting concussion. I still don't think Laraque was trying to be a thug, but a player has to be in control of his body the entire time he's on the ice, and I know that if someone had done that to Sidney, I'd likely be calling for the offender's head on a platter.

Thanks to Friend of The Show Susan W. for the Trib link.

(Photos courtesy of FoTS Pensgirl, taken at the Pens @ Caps game on 03-09-08.)