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Thumbs down to the fact Sidney Crosby will not play for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Tuesday night's game against the Winnipeg Jets, which happens to be Sidney Crosby Bobblehead Night. I'm not sure if it's thumbs down to Crosby or thumbs down to the NHL, but either way, it is not right that Crosby will sit out on Tuesday, "suspended" by the NHL, as it were.

The reasoning goes that if Crosby could start and finish Wednesday's game against Chicago, he should suit up for Team Toews or Team Foligno in Sunday's All-Star Game and, by not doing so, he disrespects the NHL and Team Pittsburgh, which needs him in the lineup against the Jets. On the other hand, there is room to accuse the league of disrespecting Crosby and of carrying its annoyance with All-Star no-shows too far by applying an ill-conceived rule. How important is it for Crosby to play in Columbus today?

Obviously, contrary to NHL thinking, it's not as important as it is for him to play in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Both he and the league should realize that, and it's too bad they wouldn't or couldn't do something about it.

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Some might say thumbs down to the World Cup of Hockey because it's not the Olympics. I will say thumbs up to the World Cup of Hockey, if it winds up replacing the Olympics. Confused? Let's start with the widely-held view, among fans and players alike, that the place for the world's biggest international hockey event is the Olympic Games.

It is hoped that NHL participation in the Olympic hockey tournament will continue in South Korea in 2018. If it does, and if this is determined between now and the start of the 2016 World Cup, the event in Toronto will be viewed accordingly. It'll be interesting, potentially exciting, quite gimmicky with the inclusion of two teams that won't be representing single nations, and it will obviously be well attended. But it won't be the Olympics. Conversely, if the NHL and the NHLPA decide to skip the next Olympics, and maybe others to follow, the World Cup becomes the best and only place to watch the top players in an international setting and a World Cup win will amount to international hockey supremacy.

In saying that, it is necessary to react to the possibility, slim, though it may be, of a World Cup win by a team of European or young North American all-stars. That would satisfy no one apart from the members of the championship team if the 2018 Olympics were off the NHL calendar. It would be more acceptable, once the surprise wore off, if the bigger and more important event were to follow at the Olympics two years later.

Thus, I reserve final judgment on the full worth of the World Cup until a decision is reached on future NHL Olympic involvement.