Sidney Crosbys concussion 10 years later and the NHLs progress since: Yohe

It has been a decade since the day the music almost died.

Sidney Crosby, chief of the hockey world and still among the NHL’s brightest stars, will begin his 16th season with the Penguins on Jan. 13. This shouldn’t be taken for granted. For more than a year, it was fair to wonder if Crosby would still be playing in 2021, let alone at the level that has catapulted him from superstar to among the greatest players in history.

The Penguins were at the center of the hockey universe 10 years ago on this night. They’d just been featured with the Washington Capitals by HBO in the kind of mainstream exposure that often eludes the NHL. The Winter Classic had a different feel back then. It’s still a big deal, but it was new, fresh and exciting in 2011, and so were the Penguins.

They’d precociously reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2008 as a bunch of kids. They’d won the Cup one year later at Joe Louis Arena. It was presumed that their hiccup against the Canadiens in the second round of the 2010 playoffs was a mere fluke, a belief reinforced by the way they began the 2010-11 season. The Penguins were hockey’s best team that season and Crosby was its best player, producing an outrageous 32 goals and 66 points in the season’s first 41 games, putting him on a pace for 64 goals and 132 points, both of which would have been career highs. A dynasty was surely in the making.

Then came a David Steckel shoulder to the head at, of all places, Heinz Field. A few days later, in a game in which Crosby never should have played, a tap from behind by Victor Hedman bumped Crosby’s head into the glass. It was a far more innocent-looking play than the Steckel hit, but it triggered a 15-month saga that saw Crosby play in only eight games. Along the way, he missed 101 games and his life was forever changed.

So, too, was hockey, Crosby’s career and his legacy. Let’s count the ways.

• In the past decade, the perception of concussions and their severity has changed unimaginably. It took a player of Crosby’s magnitude to open eyes. Before Crosby’s concussion, many in hockey circles did not believe head injuries were a major problem. In previous generations, you were expected to pop a couple of Advils and play even if you had a headache. Otherwise, you were soft. That’s literally the way things were.

But when the face of hockey missed more than a year in his prime to a head injury, it got everyone’s attention. No, it wasn’t the thing that helped people realize the danger of concussions. Don’t think for a second, however, that it didn’t play a massive role.

• We don’t label concussions the way we once did. Dan Bylsma infamously met with the media before a game in Boston in January of 2011 and said Crosby was out with a “mild concussion” and that he was expected to miss around one week. At the time, this comment was met with a shrug of shoulders. A decade later, the phrase “mild concussion” no longer exists, as it’s widely recognized that concussions are unpredictable. It was only 10 years ago but, in this context, it might as well have been a century ago. We’ve come a long way in how seriously we take brain injuries.

• The Penguins have become so much more aware of concussions, and when I say the Penguins, I mean the players. Multiple players endure concussions every season on every NHL roster. It’s an inescapable reality of playing a really fast, really physical game on a really hard surface. In the Penguins’ locker room, Crosby has literally become the concussion godfather. Year after year, players who are dealing with a concussion — or who are concerned that they may have received one — go to Crosby first.

One good thing that came from Crosby’s time dealing with a career-threatening concussion is that he knows almost everything there is to know about them, his personal experience and subsequent research made him a legitimate authority on this subject. Because of Crosby’s influence, everyone on the Penguins is a little more aware, and a little more careful about concussions. This is a good thing

• I don’t know how much Crosby’s return from a concussion is a part of his legacy, but it should be. Those were scary times for him. Crosby would feel like himself for a stretch of days, dominating practices and making some observers wonder why he wasn’t yet playing in games. Then, one morning, he’d be taking a shower and would be struck with a headache. And it was back to square one.

Crosby seemed to work his way through the concussion. One day in Denver, long after practice had ended, Crosby nearly made himself sick on the ice while working out by himself. He just stayed on his right knee for 10 minutes gathering himself. It was a jarring thing to watch but also shed some light on how much it meant to Crosby to return to the NHL and to again be the world’s greatest player.

He endured a lot of sleepless nights and barely played hockey for 15 months. For a creature of habit like Crosby, this must have been excruciating.

When he stepped onto the Heinz Field ice at the Winter Classic, he undoubtedly was the world’s greatest hockey player. When he finally returned for good at Madison Square Garden in March 2012, he, still, undoubtedly was the world’s greatest hockey player. And he would be so for the better part of another decade.

What happened that night against the Capitals wasn’t a good thing, nor should it be remembered as such. A careless blow was delivered. A player with a concussion stayed in the game.

However, much good has been realized since that night. In a sport that far often turns a blind eye toward injuries of any kind, concussions are serious. I suspect a player of Crosby’s magnitude suffering from such an awful concussion got the attention of many people.

And what of Crosby himself? He’s one of the greatest players of all time by anyone’s estimation and his return from a concussion, in many ways, was his finest hour.

If Wayne Gretzky is about untouchable numbers, Mario Lemieux is about untouchable talent, and Bobby Orr is about changing the game, then Crosby is most assuredly about pure determination. He has more talent than most, and on the rare occasions he faces an equal, he will merely will his way to victory. It’s his greatest trademark.

We saw it beautifully illustrated starting one decade ago tonight. It’s too bad that it happened, but it resulted in a lot of good, and it gave us a comeback story for the ages from an organization that knows a thing or two about just that.

(Photo: Brian Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images)

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