If He Can Keep Healthy, Look Out Nhl, Sidney Crosby Unsatisfied With Play: “there’s Just A Ton Of Things I Need To Improve On.”

If He Can Keep Healthy, Look Out NHL, Sidney Crosby Unsatisfied with Play: “There’s just a ton of things I need to improve on.”

Sidney Crosby took a hard hit in Monday’s game against the Boston Bruins, and news broke on Wednesday thatthe Pittsburgh Penguins are deciding to err on the side of caution by not allowing their captain to play in the Pens upcoming two road games this week against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders. Crosby stayed back in Pittsburgh rather than joining his team on the trip across the state to Philly.The first big hit endured by Crosby was the biggest cause of concern going into this season after No.87 only played in 41 games during the 2010-11 season due to post-concussion symptoms. Crosby has 12 points in eight games since returning this season as he showed flashes of greatness in his first game back against the New York Islanders. Hopefully the precautionary measure proves to be prudent but unnecessary, and Crosby will be able to resume playing after the brief two-day hiatus.sidney Crosby joined 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh with John Seibel, Joe Starkey and Josh Miller to discuss whether the possibility of playing with Jaromir Jagr was ever intriguing to him, how his return from injury has been compared with the legendary return of Mario Lemieux, which memory about playing Philadelphia stands out the most for him, seeing Maxime Talbot in Flyers colors, and the aspects of his game that have come back slower/faster since his return from his concussion injuries.

Did the idea of playing with Jaromir Jagr intrigue you?

“I didn’t really – you know what it was so quick – it lasted like two days or whatever it was. I didn’t really think about it a whole lot. My thought process was I probably wasn’t going to play with him. I figured I was just going to play with [Matt] Cooke and [Pascal] Dupuis, so I hadn’t seen him play, but the last time I saw him [Jaromir Jagr] play it was in New York. He was pretty dangerous there, so I think more of the thought of the power play and things like that came into mind. I think I’ve learned from the past few years. Free agency is such a mix and there’s tons of opportunities for guys to go different places. I think you do try to not get caught up and once a guy is on your team then I think you take the time to kind of think of how it’s going to work, but up until then I knew there was a lot of offers. I knew he was going to get offered more than just us.”

Going into Philadelphia…when Mario Lemieux went there a couple of times as much as they didn’t like him and don’t like the Penguins after some of his comebacks they cheered him. What kind of reception do you expect tomorrow?

“Not that. I think…well I guess one was coming out of retirement for Mario Lemieux and one was coming back from cancer, so I think that cancer is a little more serious than what I had. I don’t expect to be cheered. I’d be very surprised.”

What is the memory that stands out from Philly so far? How about your rookie year when you lost some of your teeth from Derian Hatcher?

“Yeah that is one of them. I’ve had some really good games there. I remember even the ones we lost. There were still some good memories of the games. We had some intense games and I remember the save that Sebastien Caron made there. I remember playing against Peter Forsberg. I always enjoyed watching Peter Forsberg growing up. I remember playing him there. There’s lots of memories there, but that one is one that sticks out for sure.”

Will it be weird seeing Maxime Talbot in Flyers colors?

“I think it’s always weird when you play against a former teammate. I think that you get use to it. Each year it gets a little bit easier to play those guys. I’d say I am lot better with it than I was…my first couple of years I probably didn’t even go near my teammates then, but now I think you get use to it. You realize you gotta go out there and do the same thing and everyone understands that. If anything you just try to make it as normal as possible. When Maxime Talbot is playing the type of game that he’s playing it’s pretty obvious you are going to cross paths at some point whether he is mixing it up with someone here or myself or whatever the case is. It’s going to happen. That’s the game. He’s gotta do his job. We gotta do ours. I think we all understand that.”

It’s been eight games since enduring the longest stretch where you didn’t play hockey in your whole life. What’s come back quicker than you thought? What’s come back slower than you thought?

“Nothing has really come back quicker than I thought. I think if anything there’s just a ton of things I need to improve on and just game and reacting. We are talking about split seconds really being the difference between scoring and not scoring and creating something and not creating something. You are really kind of splitting hairs when you are dissecting things you gotta do. At the end of the day it just comes with playing. There’s nothing you can do simulate that and there’s nothing you can practice off the ice to get better on that. I think that’s just something I wouldn’t say I am surprised about, but I think it’s something that every game you want it to get better.”