Crosby practiced today

[letsgopens87]

Went down to Southpointe to watch the open practice and Sid was out there sans the no-contact jersey. Took part in every drill. There was a moment during the one-on-one drill where Letang brought him down, but he got up with no issues. He worked on the PP with Malkin, Gonchar, Sykora, and Malone...

[pcm]

Awesome to hear he's practing. Was he playing the left point on the PP?

[netwolf]

I was there as well. If you were watching that session not knowing he was rehabbing an injury, you'd never have known he was hurt. He looked fine. He looked like himself out there from everything I saw.

During one of the defensive zone drills, he d'ed up Laraque in the slot. BGL was carrying the puck and leaning into him pretty good, but Crosby stayed right on him and didn't get pushed around at all. His ankle certainly showed no signs of weakness there.

FWIW, MT had the forwards jumbled around a bit:

Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Staal-Malkin-Sykora
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Smith-Laraque
Minard-James

Defense pairings were the same as they have been for a while:

Scuderi-Gonchar
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Letang

[cs6687]

Viva la Sid! Awesome to hear that he's healing so quickly. The rest of the East should go out and buy some KY cream, because they're about to take it.

[letsgopens87]

Awesome to hear he's practing. Was he playing the left point on the PP?

Yes. I didn't have the best viewpoint of it, but they seemed to rotate to a triangle. Sid on the left, Gonchar in the middle, Malkin on the right, with Malone and Sykora in front.

[Steve]

awesome, and thanks for the updates.

Did anyone notice if he was doing hockey-stops without any problems? I'm guessing that will be a good indication that he's getting close...

[netwolf]

Awesome to hear he's practing. Was he playing the left point on the PP?

Yes. I didn't have the best viewpoint of it, but they seemed to rotate to a triangle. Sid on the left, Gonchar in the middle, Malkin on the right, with Malone and Sykora in front.

Yeah, they had Gonchar at center point, Malkin and Crosby were at the tops of the circles. Usually Malkin was on the right and Sid on the left, but they switched around on occasion. Malone was always in the slot and Sykora went to one side of the net or the other. The #1 option seems to be setting up Malkin for a one-timer from the right circle.

In some of the line drills, Sykora and Malkin were working that give and go, usually getting Malkin a good shot from the circle. It's a good play.

[mark6699]

Buddy of mine has contacts w/ Pens - so take or leave the following - there is nothing I can give you to back it up other than he is almost always accurate with his info - he was told Crosby is planning on playing next week. He told me this a few days ago and the fact that Crosby praticed today without the yellow jersey seems to back it up.

[Idoit40fans]

Its not that hard to believe that, thats not that far ahead of a 6-8 week time frame. Especially if he is participating in full practices now.

[Jesse]

I said March 2, 2008. I think I might have been a little late. I bet he's back by the road-stand that happens just before that. Around 9 days from now.

[dman66]

i was there as well. sid looked fine. hoping he comes back soon
the one drill, everyone got a ood laugh when whitney hit bgl coming down the wing.
very interesting configuration with the powerplay. can't wait to see how it works in a game situation

[Ron`]

I'm jealous, I'd have much rather watched the practice than the game in WBS last night.

[Jasmine]

I was there today, too, and was told that Sid would play tomorrow!:shock: I must have just looked too gullible.
I do agree with other observers that Sid looked perfectly "normal" out there . . . skating like nothing wrong.

[Raab711]

so when is he expected back? i'd imagine its gotta be soon i mean he was pulling the trainer around the ice...at 20 years old he should be pretty well healed

[pcm]

i was there as well. sid looked fine. hoping he comes back soon
the one drill, everyone got a ood laugh when whitney hit bgl coming down the wing.
very interesting configuration with the powerplay. can't wait to see how it works in a game situation

Philly (#1 PP) plays Richards at the left point, with two guys hanging around the net.

With the Pens, Malkin and Gonchar will be the triggerman. Malkin circling around the right boards, Gonchar at the point of the umbrella. Sid will be deadly at the left point with options to hit Sykora down low, or Malkin on the right.

Very interesting to see Coach T trying Staal back on the wing with Malkin. As much as I like Staal developing his shutdown center capabilities, it doesn't hurt to have him as an option on the wing for more scoring support. Against teams weaker teams (like Boston, Carolina) this is probably more important than a shutdown center, who would be more effective against the likes of Ottawa, Tampa Bay.

[crzymike]

I was there as well. If you were watching that session not knowing he was rehabbing an injury, you'd never have known he was hurt. He looked fine. He looked like himself out there from everything I saw.

During one of the defensive zone drills, he d'ed up Laraque in the slot. BGL was carrying the puck and leaning into him pretty good, but Crosby stayed right on him and didn't get pushed around at all. His ankle certainly showed no signs of weakness there.

FWIW, MT had the forwards jumbled around a bit:

Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Staal-Malkin-Sykora
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Smith-Laraque
Minard-James

Defense pairings were the same as they have been for a while:

Scuderi-Gonchar
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Letang

If those would be the lines I guess we could live with them. I think Malone works well with Geno but Staal has also worked well in the past with him (Geno). I wouldnt be surprised if Sid came back against Ottawa next week.

[louie]

Why does Therrien love to kill chemistry...

[netwolf]

awesome, and thanks for the updates.

Did anyone notice if he was doing hockey-stops without any problems? I'm guessing that will be a good indication that he's getting close...

Stops and starts were fine. For me though, the biggest indicator was watching him defend BGL. Laraque was leaning into him pretty good and Crosby wasn't budging. In addition to a low center of gravity, you have to have excellent strength on your skates to do that.

Buddy of mine has contacts w/ Pens - so take or leave the following - there is nothing I can give you to back it up other than he is almost always accurate with his info - he was told Crosby is planning on playing next week. He told me this a few days ago and the fact that Crosby praticed today without the yellow jersey seems to back it up.

I was there today, too, and was told that Sid would play tomorrow!:shock: I must have just looked too gullible.
I do agree with other observers that Sid looked perfectly "normal" out there . . . skating like nothing wrong.

I didn't hear any predictions and I'm not about to make any, but if he did play tomorrow or next week, I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

[crzymike]

Saturday against Ottawa or sooner, Sid will be back.

[Profiler]

I was there as well. If you were watching that session not knowing he was rehabbing an injury, you'd never have known he was hurt. He looked fine. He looked like himself out there from everything I saw.

During one of the defensive zone drills, he d'ed up Laraque in the slot. BGL was carrying the puck and leaning into him pretty good, but Crosby stayed right on him and didn't get pushed around at all. His ankle certainly showed no signs of weakness there.

FWIW, MT had the forwards jumbled around a bit:

Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Staal-Malkin-Sykora
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Smith-Laraque
Minard-James

Defense pairings were the same as they have been for a while:

Scuderi-Gonchar
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Letang

If those would be the lines I guess we could live with them. I think Malone works well with Geno but Staal has also worked well in the past with him (Geno). I wouldnt be surprised if Sid came back against Ottawa next week.

I could live with these lines. I would really like to see the Geno-Malone-Sykora line stay together though.

[crzymike]

I was there as well. If you were watching that session not knowing he was rehabbing an injury, you'd never have known he was hurt. He looked fine. He looked like himself out there from everything I saw.

During one of the defensive zone drills, he d'ed up Laraque in the slot. BGL was carrying the puck and leaning into him pretty good, but Crosby stayed right on him and didn't get pushed around at all. His ankle certainly showed no signs of weakness there.

FWIW, MT had the forwards jumbled around a bit:

Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Staal-Malkin-Sykora
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Smith-Laraque
Minard-James

Defense pairings were the same as they have been for a while:

Scuderi-Gonchar
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Letang

If those would be the lines I guess we could live with them. I think Malone works well with Geno but Staal has also worked well in the past with him (Geno). I wouldnt be surprised if Sid came back against Ottawa next week.

I could live with these lines. I would really like to see the Geno-Malone-Sykora line stay together though.

I would as well but at least those lines make some sense. If MT would use those top six properly and give each line 20 plus minutes, then the very best players get the ice time most optimal in helping the team achieve success.

[ulf]

I was there as well. If you were watching that session not knowing he was rehabbing an injury, you'd never have known he was hurt. He looked fine. He looked like himself out there from everything I saw.

During one of the defensive zone drills, he d'ed up Laraque in the slot. BGL was carrying the puck and leaning into him pretty good, but Crosby stayed right on him and didn't get pushed around at all. His ankle certainly showed no signs of weakness there.

FWIW, MT had the forwards jumbled around a bit:

Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Staal-Malkin-Sykora
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Smith-Laraque
Minard-James

Defense pairings were the same as they have been for a while:

Scuderi-Gonchar
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Letang

These are decent even though I'd rather see the Malkin line not split up...other than that, I would rather see Kennedy switch with Army...

[crzymike]

I was there as well. If you were watching that session not knowing he was rehabbing an injury, you'd never have known he was hurt. He looked fine. He looked like himself out there from everything I saw.

During one of the defensive zone drills, he d'ed up Laraque in the slot. BGL was carrying the puck and leaning into him pretty good, but Crosby stayed right on him and didn't get pushed around at all. His ankle certainly showed no signs of weakness there.

FWIW, MT had the forwards jumbled around a bit:

Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Staal-Malkin-Sykora
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Smith-Laraque
Minard-James

Defense pairings were the same as they have been for a while:

Scuderi-Gonchar
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Letang

These are decent even though I'd rather see the Malkin line not split up...other than that, I would rather see Kennedy switch with Army...

Thats not a bad suggestion at all. TK had a solid game against the Canes, has speed to burn and his hands are far superior to Colby's. If the kid isnt intimidated playing full time with Sid, I'd certainly give him a few games there.

[crzymike]

When everyone is healthy upfront and barring trades this is what I'd consider

Staal-Sid-TK
Malone-Geno-Sykora
Roberts-Max-Armstrong
Ruutu-EC-BGL

Taffe would be my first choice if there was an injury.

[pcm]

When everyone is healthy upfront and barring trades this is what I'd consider

Staal-Sid-TK
Malone-Geno-Sykora
Roberts-Max-Armstrong
Ruutu-EC-BGL

Taffe would be my first choice if there was an injury.

What happened to Christensen?