SIDNEY CROSBY is back!! The NHL received some amazing news about one of it’s most notable faces while the fate of the hockey season is still in limbo. A lockout is looming ever closer. Sidney Crosby is back. He’s healthy and throughout the summer experienced no concussion setbacks. Crosby is healthy for the first time in more than a year and he might not get the chance to play. Questions have surrounded him since the hit that knocked him out of the game for 10 months and then again for a time after his comeback whether he could ever reach the high bar he set before his concussion. Answer: YES he could and he did just that in his return game last year….and now that he is 100% healthy there is no doubt of the fear he could instill in the leagues best goalies once he unleashes that patented wrist shot! One of the BEST players in the game since Gretzky…and he has a chance to put on a show once more but the league might not have a season? Are you kidding me? Can you blame Crosby and other players for making a plan B to play in Europe or Russia? I think there is something wrong with that picture. I think all PENS fans want their dynamic duo of Sid & Malkin back in the igloo creating ridiculous plays. I know I would rather have Crosby and company playing in the league we all love to watch then somewhere abroad! [who doesn’t want a Crosby or Malkin on their team?…the league would not be the same without them]. The league needs to remedy this situation before it loses its top tier players to the other leagues for longer than the [potential full-season] lockout. None of the players want to lose the whole season…so is there a solution[besides Bettman stepping down]? There is something not quite right when one of the faces of the NHL is not able to play due to politics among the league and its players.

Bettman, are we really going to let politics and numbers get in the way of what could be an amazing NHL season and let the KHL and European leagues showcase the NHL’s best talents? Wow. New low for the NHL if this becomes a reality with a lockout. The worst part about this ordeal is that while Bettman has been spewing his line of ‘the NHL has the best fans’…he does not actually care about the fans at all. The only thing that seems to concern is the money involved. In short, Sidney Crosby is back 100% healthy but what exactly is he coming back to?…a full or shortened season?..or NO season being pushed to play abroad? I have got to say that I do not like the prospect of Crosby or any other essential NHL player taking their careers abroad..but what other choice will they have if the NHL locks them out.

Here’s a glance at what could be next season if the NHL and NHLPA can agree on a new CBA: Sidney Crosby back 100% with NO setbacks since the season ended and raring to get back to the game he plays at a higher level than most; Shane Doan finally signing on the dotted line; the Staal brothers united for the first time in their careers with so much upside; the combination of Parise and Suter in Minnesota; the trade deadline as teams seek that one missing piece for their playoff push; teams fighting for that last playoff berth or pushing for a division title; a hard fought playoff battle come April-mid June ending with of course ONE Stanley Cup champion. These are things that will happen should a new CBA be reached. Without a new CBA in place none of these things [save Doan finally signing a contract] will happen. We will miss all of these moments and any others that could be. A lockout takes away all the possibilities of what next season could be.

The NHL and NHLPA met this morning and exchanged proposals. Players that were there to represent the union included: Schneider, Malhotra, Darche, Campoli and Parros to name a few. At least both sides were finally in debating mode after days of no real conversations. Another round of meetings is set for tomorrow in one last major effort to forge a new CBA in time before the existing deal expires. Both sides have stated that they both have made adjustments in their view points…but there is still work to be done before they are both on the same page.

3 more days before anything is official. 3 days before we find out if these talks are in any way meaningful to the season that could be. I am getting tired of seeing the word ‘lockout’ but until a new CBA is in place…it will be unfortunately in my vocabulary…not welcome mind you…but in it none the less.

As always, until next time, nuck said.

Sarah E.L.