Crosby Ready to Move by Tough Start to the Year

Sidney Crosby has experienced a lot of adversity in his Hall-of-Fame career, and the start of this 2021-22 campaign is right up there in terms of difficult circumstances he's endured.

After undergoing wrist surgery on Sep. 8 after exhausting all other options, the captain worked extremely hard to get himself ready to play, finally making his season debut on Oct. 30 vs. New Jersey.
"I think with any injury, it's always just as much mental as it is physical," Crosby, 34, said. "I think just not having training camp and things like that, not having a regular start to the season… given all that, I think I was even more excited than typically to kind of get back."
But after just one appearance, Crosby was sidelined again after testing positive for COVID-19 and having to go through the protocol. He ended up missing another five games while being isolated from the team for 10 days.
"It wasn't fun," said Crosby, who was symptomatic. "I don't think it's ever fun for anybody having to do that. But just with the timing, being excited to kind of get back and start back up and then get a positive test, I think it was tough. But we'll move by it, and excited to be back here."
The team announced that Crosby, along with defenseman Brian Dumoulin, had been cleared to rejoin the team on Saturday, Nov. 13. However, they were not able to join the Penguins in Ottawa for their game that night due to Canada's restrictions pertaining to the virus.
Instead, they returned to the lineup in Pittsburgh's last game on Nov. 14 in Washington, with Crosby saying that he didn't expect to feel great, and he didn't. As head coach Mike Sullivan has said repeatedly, not only does the virus affect everybody differently - Crosby has played just two games over a span of about 5-6 months, so it's going to take some time.
"It's not a typical thing where you just sit around for 10 days and jump on the ice. I mean, typically, even when you're hurt you're kind of building up and ramping up to get ready," Crosby said.
"So it's totally something new that you just got to kind of figure out along the way and try to manage. Trying to get back into game shape and get to where you need to be, and that doesn't happen in one practice or one game. … But I'm glad that I was able to finally get back into one."
Right now, Crosby said physically, he feels really good. He just wants to try and feel better and get better with each passing day, taking advantage of every chance to get on the ice so that he can get his timing back as quick as possible.
"Obviously make the most of opportunities when we have team practices and things of that nature," he said. "We have a lot of games coming up, so trying to make the most of the time I get in practices and just trying to, with each game, get better too."
The Penguins are looking to turn the page after a tough set of back-to-back losses over the weekend, starting tonight against the Buffalo Sabres. It's the first time in a long time Pittsburgh has had a mostly healthy lineup, as right now, Evgeni Malkin is the only player who is out. Crosby said it will be important to take advantage of that and try to find some desperation and urgency.
"Just being where we are, in the situation we're in, I think we've been fighting here since really Game 1, whether it be injuries or the virus," Crosby said. "So I think there's excitement knowing that we got a full group, but we also know we have some work to do. So it's not all going to come back in one game, but I think we know that we've got to start grabbing some points here."