Friday's Injury Updates - Crosby, Brodeur, Hemsky...

Lots to run through here...

YESSSS!... Sidney Crosby is ready!.... for contact in practice!  Alright, it's not really that exciting but it is progress and the next step will be for them to target a return date.  I'm not even going there since it will surely be an overblown speculation-fest over the next few weeks.

Martin Brodeur left last night's game due to a shoulder injury but the team said after the game that it wasn't serious... let's hope they're right.

Uh-oh... Ales Hemsky left last night's game due to a shoulder injury.  His shoulders are being held together with plasticine at this point so this is not a good sign.

Tim Connolly (UBI) now says that his injury is more serious than they let on and it may be longer than a day-to-day thing.  I believe we said when he first went down that no injury with this guy is minor so expect the worst... bingo.

Even more fragile than Connolly is Rick DiPietro and he took a shot off the mask in practice on Wednesday and while they don't think it is a concussion, it very well could be. 

Martin Erat is on the IR due to his UBI but he could come off at any time and Patric Hornqvist is day-to-day with a LBI.

Linus Omark is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

Michal Neuvirth didn't dress for last night's game as he's day-to-day with a LBI but he should be back in the next game or two.

Carlo Colaiacovo is on the IR and it sounds like he probably has a concussion so who knows how long he'll be out for... he was an injury risk even before this so I'd bail now.

Ryan Kesler (hip) is reportedly getting close but is probably still at least a week away. 

Evgeni Malkin returned after sitting out two games and put up 2A last night.

Lars Eller & Dustin Penner both made their season debuts last night.