Penguins Coach Bylsma Gives Crosby And Malkin Updates
Added on Jun 28, 2011 by J Merrill in
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While the Pittsburgh Penguins were trying to stay afloat in the Stanly Cup Playoffs there was much talk about a possibility of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin making a return to help them later in the post season. The Penguins didn’t survive with out them, and not much has been said on either players condition since the season ended. Today Head Coach Dan Bylsma addressed the media about the status of both players.
For a short time before the playoffs started Crosby was working on the ice, and videos were surfacing of doing stick handling drills and making back handed goals from 40 feet out. It really looked like he could show up in a game at any moment when he made the announcement he probably was to hasty with the decision to go back to the ice, and his concussion symptoms were coming back in flashes. Less than a week after being named the coach of the year, Bylsma said Crosby was cleared to start working out again. He said “He came back to Pittsburgh after a hiatus or vacation with some of his teammates. The doctors here cleared him to go home and work out as he normally would be working out. He’s been working out two times a day and progressing along his normal road of summer activity. That’s what Sid has been doing. He’s got another two and a half months ahead of doing that.” This is great news as there has even been some talk that Crosby may never return.
Bylsma also confessed that if the team had advanced further in the playoffs there was a good chance they would have had him back in the line up. That never happened after they dropped their series to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bylsma said “He really believed — and was trying to convince everyone involved — that he was going to be coming back as soon as possible to play in the playoffs if we could have moved on to the next round. He was progressing to the point where that was actually a real possibility. He was really doing very well strength-wise and he was ahead of schedule in terms of what the doctors could do with his rehab.”
Bylsma said they expect a full functioning Malkin, and said he heard from former Penguins defenseman that he was looking great. He said “We have heard through Sergei Gonchar, actually, that he’s never seen Geno working this hard and looking this good and this motivated at this time of the summer. So I expect a real motivated, a real focused guy and a guy who is ready to go for training camp — is probably already ready to go. I think he’ll be at full go coming into training camp and really motivated.”
Bylsma also spoke “hypothetically” about the possibility of Jaromir Jagr playing for the Penguins, and said they wouldn’t have to change much to get Jagr in the line up. He said “I don’t think we’d have to change everything drastically for him to able to fit in. If you watched Jaromir play in the World Championships, his play down low is outstanding. We’re a team that wants to play in the offensive zone. There’s a speed part to our game, but it really lies largely in playing in the offensive zone and wearing teams down. I don’t think he has missed much of a beat in that regard to his game. Hypothetically speaking, that’s where I see him fitting in.” Jagr last played with the New York Rangers 3 years ago and finished with 71 points. Jagr also has won the Hart Trophy five times, and has won the Art Ross Trophy.
