Sidney Crosby deemed unfit to play after last night’s scrimmage!

It’s been a roller-coaster ride for the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fanbase ever since captain Sidney Crosby left Saturday’s intra-squad scrimmage and no update had been provided per the current NHL Return to Play protocol, which says clubs are not permitted to disclose player injury and/or illness information.

Fans exhaled a much needed sigh of relief on Wednesday when Crosby skated prior to practice after missing three days. Then, on Thursday night, worry returned when the star player missed the team’s scrimmage and was deemed unfit to participate by head coach Mike Sullivan when he met with media members after the game. 

While Sullivan wanted to ease the minds of many hockey fans out there, his update on his captain was quite confusing nonetheless. 

“He was unfit to participate in tonight’s scrimmage, but he did skate on his own this morning. There will be no further comment.”

Earlier this week, assistant coach Jacques Martin held an interview in French with RDS, and ended up saying a little more on his star player’s status. While Martin appeared to be aware of the NHL Return to Play protocol, he still gave an encouraging update on Crosby, which appears to be quite positive for all Pens fans out there.

“The NHL Return to Play protocol forces us to remain quiet on the nature of injuries, however, I think I am allowed to say whilst trying to respect the rules that there is no worries when it comes to Crosby’s health and that he should join us back in practice in the next few days. There is still a lot of time left before our first game against the Canadiens on August 1st.”

Sullivan’s update was not as reassuring, but we can understand how the Penguins want to keep Crosby as healthy and safe as possible before the move to Toronto when they Pens will take on the Montreal Canadiens in the best of five qualifying series. 

Let’s try and see if we can find out more on Crosby’s status before then…