Already without Evgeni Malkin for the remainder of the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins may have to do without Sidney Crosby until at least March.
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review is reporting that Crosby is still at least 10 days away from resuming normal exercise activities and the team does not expect to have their captain back in the lineup until at least next month.
The 2007 Hart Trophy winner has not played since sustaining a concussion on January 5th after being driven into the boards by Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman.
Penguins' head coach Dan Bylsma addressed the situation following practice on Monday, however he could not offer any type of firm date of return for his superstar who has missed the past 13 games.
"The schedule with Sidney, we thought he would return sometime this week," Bylsma told the Associated Press. "There wasn't a definite date or definite day. Right now, I haven't had a lot of contact. He's in contact with our trainer just to let him know how he's feeling and so forth. There really isn't a timeframe, as far as we're concerned at this point, of getting him back into town."
Should the Pens be without Crosby for an extended time, it would obviously be a huge blow to their Stanley Cup chances, especially after Malkin suffered season-ending ACL and MCL injuries last week. That being said, the Pens have played extremely well in both players respective absences. Pittsburgh is 8-3-1 since Crosby was injured and 4-1-0 without both Crosby and Malkin in the lineup.
Prior to the injury, Crosby was running away with the NHL scoring race but has been since passed by Daniel Sedin and Steven Stamkos. The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native 32 goals and 34 assists in 41 games this season.
