To start the season the Pittsburgh Penguins officially placed star forward Sidney Crosby on the injured reserve due to his ongoing concussion problems.
Essentially what this means is that a player will be out a week, sometimes longer though it is believed that the regular IR rules in the NHL wouldn’t apply here considering Crosby has been shelved since last season. So if he (Crosby) was ready to return before the end of a given week than he would likely be allowed to come back.
For the Penguins, their fans and Crosby himself, dealing with the concussion has been a long and at time uncertain process. Pittsburgh, who’s been without arguably the best player in the league since January has been very careful in bringing Crosby back. Because of Crosby’s high-profile status Pittsburgh is certainly doing the right thing in not rushing the situation and making sure when he does come back he is at 100%.
Things do look better for Crosby though.
He is currently traveling and practicing (non-contact) with the team. There even have been realistic talks about his return.
In the meantime, Pittsburgh has welcomed back their other star forward in Evgeni Malkin. So whenever Crosby does make his return, he’ll probably be making it to a Pittsburgh team that can go out and contend in the East.
Ref: ESPN