Sidney Crosby returned to practice today. This was the next important step necessary for him to make his way back to game action. Assuming that he has no symptoms after practice today he will be able to keep ramping up his activities.

My personal guess is that he makes it through today with no further symptoms, sits tomorrow against Florida, practices in full again on Wednesday with no issues, and is cleared for Thursday night against the Islanders. I think the Penguins aren't going to mess around with this situation and giving Crosby two full contact practices before game action seems like the safer path to take.

All accounts so far have Crosby progressing in a positive way. He is making his way through the process and it is closer to the end than the beginning now.

Here is how practice has looked

Crosby in a 2v2 battle drill. Looks like neither he nor his cohorts are holding back. pic.twitter.com/9iHUO8TvSF

— Bill West (@BWest_Trib) October 24, 2016

Crosby has returned to the regular line rotation. He slots back with Patric Hornqvist and will be flanked by Scott Wilson on the left side (two game goal streak).

Wilson-Crosby-Hornqvist
Kunitz-Malkin-Rust
Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel
Kuhnhackl-Cullen-Fehr

These are the Stanley Cup lines with the exception of Conor Sheary who did not practice. The HBK line returns despite not being good so far this year. Crosby's presence in the lineup should give them the same freedom they experienced last year.

Sid was back on the top power play which looked like this

Looks like Sidney Crosby has worked his way back onto the top power play. It's him, Malkin, Kessel, Hornqist and Schultz.

— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) October 24, 2016

Sidney Crosby spoke after practice and said "I feel good". He has not experienced any symptoms. So far so good.

Probably more notable than Crosby returning to contact, which was predictable, Kris Letang still has not returned to practice. The Penguins appear to be using an extremely liberal definition of day to day.

Pittsburgh is probably overachieving so far this season

Team ranks based on https://t.co/DwhIEEQ6NN's SRS.
System rates MTL as best, CGY as worst, TOR as average.

https://t.co/QcqAjTXfVg pic.twitter.com/XFlXemtK58

— Sean Tierney (@SeanTierneyTss) October 23, 2016

The blue color indicates the percentage of standings points the Penguins have accumulated.
The more left a team is on the chart the worse the team has played to this point. It isn't alarming because they are missing Crosby and Letang it just means they have been lucky to get as many points as they have. That's a good thing. Take good breaks when you get them.
Pittsburgh has been strong on the power play.

Special teams again, plotted by expected goals for (PP) and expected goals against (PK).
NYR is great. NYI is not.
FLA is dull. CBJ is fun! pic.twitter.com/bhmxcEe2sQ

— Sean Tierney (@SeanTierneyTss) October 23, 2016

Here are the players who played the best in the league last week. Matt Cullen(!) and Patric Hornqvist are the Penguins on the list.

Best players from last week according to Game Score pic.twitter.com/7jQLpSBAsl

— dom (@omgitsdomi) October 24, 2016

Jason Mackey went down to Florida recently and the result was an amazing piece with Jaromir Jagr

At 44, Jaromir Jagr doesn't want to stop playing hockey anytime soon. https://t.co/5lKMm2XzmL pic.twitter.com/mU5RyJQpq0

— Post-Gazette Sports (@PGSportsNow) October 24, 2016

Brian Metzer also wrote about Jaromir Jagr

Through all the cheers and boos, #Penguins fans need to admit they still love Jaromir Jagr, writes @Brian_Metzer https://t.co/c9UGY8RLzT

— The Times Sports (@timesscores) October 24, 2016

Thanks for reading!

Join the Discussion: » 46 Comments » Post New Comment

» Getting your Penguins fix

» My thoughts on Penguins thoughts

» It's their fault

» Still alive, for now

» Going to need some help now