January 5th, 2011, it was the last day Sidney Crosby would play in an NHL game.
Coming off a hit from Washington's David Steckel in the Winter Classic, Crosby would suffer another hit from Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman four days later.
Because of these two hits Crosby missed the rest of the 2010-2011 season and the start of the current NHL season. After weeks of speculation as to when he would return word came down yesterday afternoon that Sidney Crosby would make his season debut tonight at home against the New York Islanders.
How big of a deal is this?
The CBC network announced they were going to air a special edition of Hockey Night in Canada tonight broadcasting Crosby's return. An hour later Versus announced they were dropping their coverage of Boston vs. Montreal so they could also air Crosby's return.
There isn't another player in the NHL, not Ovechkin, not Stamkos that could make this happen. Come to think of it I'm having trouble finding a current athlete in any sport where a TV network would change their broadcasting schedule just because he is returning from injury.
I'll have more on Crosby's return later this week. Here is the Power Poll for Week 6:
1. San Jose 12-5-1 25 points
Marc-Edouard Vlasic named 2nd star of the week. (1G, 6A, +7 on ice)
2. Minnesota 12-5-3 27 points
Simply put the Wild are beating the teams they need to beat.
3. Chicago 12-6-3 27 points
Gave up 5 goals in Calgary and 9 goals in Edmonton on back to back nights.
4. Buffalo 12-8-0 24 points
Defenseman Tyler Myers out one month with a broken wrist.
5. Pittsburgh 11-6-3 25 points
Welcome back Sid.
6. Detroit 11-7-1 23 points
Ended a five game road losing streak with a win in Los Angeles on Saturday. Followed that up by defeating the Ducks in Anaheim.
7. Boston 11-7-0 22 points
Hottest team in the NHL has won eight in a row.
8. Philadelphia 11-5-3 25 points
Five goals in four games for Matt Read is the best stretch for a Flyers rookie since Mikael Renberg scored five goals in three games from Feb. 15-18, 1994.
9. Toronto 11-8-2 24 points
Phil Kessel (16G, 13A) leads the NHL in scoring with 29 points.
10 Dallas 11-8-0 22 points
Big disparity in special teams is a factor in the Stars recent struggles.
11. Los Angeles 10-7-3 23 points
Mike Richards has goals in five of his last six games (6g) and has 14 points (7G, 7A) in his last 17 games.
12. N.Y. Rangers 10-4-3 23 points
Loss against Montreal ends Rangers seven game win streak.
13. Vancouver 10-9-1 21 points
Daniel Sedin has 11 points (2G, 9A) in November.
14. Washington 10-7-1 21 points
Capitals are 3-7-1 since starting the year with seven straight wins.
15. Nashville 10-5-4 24 points
Top line is producing for the Predators.
16. New Jersey 10-7-1 21 points
Devils finish up road trip tonight in Florida. My guess is former Panthers coach Pete DeBoar really wants this one tonight.
17. St. Louis 10-7-2 22 points
Blues forward David Perron is cleared for contact and closer to returning to the lineup. He hasn't played since November 4th, 2010 because of a concussion.
18. Edmonton 10-7-2 22 points
9-2 win over Chicago ends the Oilers four game losing streak. Hoping to continue momentum as the team starts a four game road trip tonight in Dallas.
19. Phoenix 10-5-3 23 points
Game winning goal against Buffalo scored by Paul Bissonnette. I'm pretty confident I'll never type that sentence in my life again.
20. Florida 10-6-3 23 points
Your eyes aren't deceiving you. Right now the Panthers are in 1st in the Southeast Division.
21. Ottawa 10-9-2 22 points
Senators are 3-1-1 on current road trip.
22. Tampa Bay 9-8-2 20 points
Lightning have the fourth ranked home power play in the NHL at 22.6 percent.
23. Montreal 9-8-3 21 points
Carey Price (2-0-1, 0.67 GAA, .972 save percentage) named first star of the week.
24. Colorado 9-11-1 19 points
This goal by Matt Duchene might be the prettiest goal of the season.
25. Winnipeg 8-9-3 19 points
15 goals in two games this year against Philadelphia. The Flyers do know these are the Thrashers in better uniforms don't they?
26. Calgary 8-9-1 17 points
Goaltending and defense has been good for the Flames. They just can't score enough goals to win games.
27. Carolina 7-11-3 17 points
Hurricanes are 0-5-1 in last six road games as they travel to Philadelphia tonight.
28. Anaheim 6-10-4 16 points
Ducks are 1-5-3 in the month of November.
29. N.Y. Islanders 5-9-3 13 points
I'm not a fan of the Islanders 3rd jersey.
30. Columbus 4-13-2 10 points
The record doesn't show it but the Blue Jackets are starting to play better.
Kobe and LeBron returning from a long injury would have the same effect. As I recall, Tiger coming back expanded coverage.
ReplyDeleteI don't disparage the coverage of Sid, if I was running those networks, I'd do the same thing. But I don't think he's unique in that respect.
Wild #2?! Call me overly cautious, but I think Chicago and Pittsburgh are both better.
Your analysis (beating the teams they need to beat) is spot-on. I just think that their current hot-streak is more about the quality of their recent schedule than it is about how good they are.