Sidney Crosby (87) had to be escorted off of the ice Saturday after taking a slap shot to the face. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

By Allan Muir

Memo to fantasy team owners of Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis: It’s time to sell.

News broke this afternoon that their center, Sidney Crosby, is out indefinitely with a broken jaw.

The injury, caused by a Brooks Orpik slap shot gone astray early in Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Islanders, threatens to sideline the league’s leading scorer for the remainder of the regular season.

The Penguins revealed that Crosby, who leads the league in points (56) and is a favorite for the Hart Trophy, had surgery on his jaw on Saturday night. He had led Pittsburgh to the best record in the NHL, as well as a 15-game winning streak that will be put to the test Tuesday night against Buffalo

The team stated on its website that it would provide a timetable later this week, but historical evidence suggests this type of injury keeps a player out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks. Here’s the story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Sidney Crosby was slow to get up after taking a puck to the face from Bruce Orpik’s deflected shot. (Gene J. Puskar/ AP)

It’s been a good news/bad news/bad news/good news day for the Penguins.

The highly anticipated Pittsburgh debut of superstar winger Jarome Iginla was clouded first by news that top defender Paul Martin would be out of the lineup for six weeks, and then by a nasty facial injury suffered by Sidney Crosby.

Although he wears a visor, there was nothing the shield could do to prevent a Brooks Orpik slapper from catching Crosby flush in the side of the face during his first shift in this afternoon’s 2-0 win over the New York Islanders.

Here’s the clip:

He immediately fell to the ice, but was able to head to the dressing room under his own power.

There’s obviously concern any time Crosby takes a blow to the head given his concussion history, but he looked clear-eyed as he left.

Coach Dan Bylsma said after the game that Crosby had been taken to a local hospital where he underwent oral surgery after losing teeth.

Even without the league’s leading scorer, the Penguins had enough firepower to down the Islanders. Goals by Matt Cooke and James Neal and a third consecutive shutout from Tomas Vokoun earned Pittsburgh a 15th straight win. That ties the 1981-82 New York Islanders for the second-longest streak in NHL history.

Iginla was held off the score sheet in his first game with new linemates Evgeni Malkin and Neal. He was plus-1 over his 17:30 of action–1:44 less than he was averaging in Calgary–with three shots on net and two hits.

Is Sidney Crosby better than Mario Lemieux? The debate about two Pittsburgh greats may be more complicated than you think. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

A notated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• How does Sidney Crosby match up against Mario Lemieux? TribLive breaks it down. Really, that Pittsburgh has had both of them is as ridiculous as John Derek marrying Bo Derek after Ursula Andress. (Note: you must be at least 50 to appreciate those references.)

• The Blue Jackets have earned points in 10 straight? Unbelievable. Sergei Bobrovsky took it to another level last night, making 39 saves to win a game in which his team didn’t score. Check out this number: his save percentage over the last eight games is .976.

• You know how routs are usually kinda boring? Last night’s 8-1 pantsing of the Stars by Chicago was the exact opposite. It was like watching the Globetrotters pull out every trick to humiliate the Washington Generals, a jaw-dropping display of skill and effort that showcased the best the NHL has to offer. What a perfect night for Dallas owner Tom Gagliardi to fly in his family from Vancouver for the game. Oh, well maybe not…

• BREAKING NEWS: Chicago GM Stan Bowman thinks his team is pretty good. “I’d be comfortable [going into the playoffs] with the group we have,” he said when asked about what his team needs ahead of the trade deadline.

• Speaking of fun to watch, today’s Boston-Pittsburgh matinee stacks up as a beauty. It goes at 12:30 EDT on NBC.

• The Pens should put up a far better fight than the Caps did yesterday. That meek effort made it four losses in five for Washington and has to give GM George McPhee reason to question whether he has the right mix to move into next season.

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If you think Sidney Crosby made an impact at the 2010 Winter Olympics, just wait. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

When it comes to Canada’s national hockey teams, the story is never who makes the cut, but who gets snubbed. Second-guessing the roster has become the country’s other official sport.

Such scrutiny is the price that comes with having the world’s most enviable talent pool, one so deep that a solid case can be built for literally dozens of choices. But it also points out the challenge facing Steve Yzerman and the rest of Canada’s management heading into Sochi. It’s not just a matter of picking the best players or the ones with the flashiest statistics, but the men capable of playing multiple roles…and meshing well with one another.

Team USA projected Olympic roster

And it’s about picking players who will be ready when Feb. 12, 2014 rolls around, not just those who’ve answered the call in the past. Experience is important, but the team can’t live in the past.

So maybe that means no Rick Nash, who has underperformed at his last couple international events. Maybe Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton and Ryan Getzlaf don’t have the versatility to find footing among Canada’s deep group of centers. Maybe some youngsters are ready but others, like Tyler Seguin, Logan Couture and Jeff Skinner aren’t quite there yet.

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After only two games, the Penguins look like the class of the league. (Will Schneekloth/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

• The parade goes through Pittsburgh. Road wins over the Flyers and Rangers have me feeling pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good about picking the Penguins as my Stanley Cup favorites. And they managed the sweep without a goal from Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

• The man behind the curtain. Forget about dumping Gary Bettman. Until the NHL Board of Governors gets out from under the bitter, svengali-like influence of Boston owner Jeremy Jacobs, we’re just killing time until the next lockout.

• Here he can watch the ice instead of his back. Columbus’ roster might be just a step up from a second-year expansion side, but Todd Richards and a revamped coaching staff bring the Blue Jackets a step closer to respectability ahead of tonight’s home opener vs. the Red Wings. I think this is the first time I’ve seen the loudly whispered rumors of Martin Havlat’s Wild dressing room subterfuge in print, which serves as a gentle reminder that Dany Heatley could play Sit ‘N’ Spin on the bench and that deal will always be a winner for Minnesota.

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Hockey starved Flyers fans get to open the season by welcoming the hated Penguins. (Len Redkoles/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Yeah, I heard you last September. “Wake me up when the lockout’s over,” you said.

No one’s blaming you for nodding off while the finger-pointing, name calling, line-in-the-sand-drawing lawyers cost us nearly four months of NHL hockey. In fact, I got a little blurry myself listening to all that talk about  cap escalators and salary variance and rose ceremonies, but here I am with that call you’ve been waiting for. Time to rub the sleep out of your eyes, pull the team sweater out of mothballs, settle into that lucky couch groove and pop the top on your favorite frosty beverage. (And while you’re waiting for the first puck ro drop, some suggested reading..)

The abbreviated 2013 NHL season finally begins Saturday afternoon. And it’s gonna be a good one. (Kings raise banner in style.)

Make that really good. The 48-games-in-99-days, intra-conference schedule isn’t just “better than nothing.” This impossibly compressed timeline actually magnifies the importance of every moment, every slump, every streak, every injury. With so much on the line and no margin for error, it even makes an Islanders game worth watching. On a Tuesday. In February.

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Lightning sniper Steven Stamkos faces the challenge of trying to stay sharp during the endless lockout by playing in no-contact charity games like Operation Hat Trick and even his dad’s beer league. (Bill Streicher/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

Things remain at a standstill as the owners lockout hits day 94. While the players say they are willing to talk, they have not gotten the call from the league to resume.

Away from the CBA fray, NHL players continue to grab their sticks and do what they can to stay in shape, or at least pass the time, sometimes in rather unorthodox ways. Take Sidney Crosby. The Penguins captain picked up the big stick last Friday, playing goal on a friend’s deck hockey team not far from downtown Pittsburgh. Now, deck hockey is the same as ice hockey, just without the ice; street hockey — or road hockey as Canadians sometimes call it — but with boards instead of sidewalk curbs. There’s a photo of the playing surface on the website of the place in which Crosby played.

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The Canadiens’ 36-year-old journeyman winger Mathieu Darche is hardly a millionaire, but the perennially struggling Maple Leafs have been ranked by Forbes magazine as the NHL’s most valuable franchise. (Nick Turchiaro/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

The owners and players are continuing their negotiations with the help of federal mediators, and we’re not going to hear anything about what is going on or even where it’s going on until the process is over, one way or another. There’s a gag order on both parties, thankfully, since every previous self-imposed attempt to keep things quiet has failed. Usually, the less heard about what’s going on, the better. We mentioned long ago that when you don’t hear anything about negotiations, that can be a sign that progress is being made, but when things aren’t going well, you’ll hear about it, either at formal press briefings or leaked to the media, and we’ve had lots of briefings and leaks until now.

If you want to know more about the mediation process, Eric Macramalla provides it here at TSN.ca.

UPDATE: Mediation concluded after two days with the sides remaining apart, unable to close the gap on their differences. Here’s TSN’s report.

By the way, if you think this is a battle strictly between billionaires and millionaires, you might want to read Pat Hickey’s story in The Montreal Gazette about Mathieu Darche, who for many years as a pro shuttling between the NHL and minor leagues made around $75,000 and only got his first one-way NHL contract for $500,000 per season when he was 33 years old. Darche, who turned 36 on Monday and is a free agent now, has never made a million a season. He told Hickey that there are 200 NHL players who, going into the lockout, had signed contracts for less than $1 million. It’s a good story and provides some valuable insight into a sizable portion of the player pool: the guys who don’t often show up in the headlines and, just like many of us, have to keep an eye on their spending habits.

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Send in the clowns: Federal mediators are joining the NHL lockout circus, but neither side has to listen to them. (Photo by Todd A. Swift/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

After getting drunk on the spirits of Operation Hat Trick in Atlantic City, we awaken to the long hangover that is the NHL lockout. That’ll sober you up real quick.

By now it should be clear to whoever is still paying attention to this ongoing farce that no one really knows what’s ahead and anyone who is offering a prediction is just guessing. All we can say with relative certainty is that the next time the players and owners get together — which looks like it will be Wednesday — they’ll be joined by members of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Will that matter? At this point, any suggestions to help break the stalemate would be useful, but most observers are doubtful they will matter. The mediators have not been asked to settle the dispute, only make recommendations — and neither side is obligated to follow them. If you subscribe to the belief that one side isn’t interested in agreeing to anything unless it gets its way (and you are free to choose your side here), mediators likely won’t change that.

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The insurance on Alex Ovechkin for this year’s World Championships came to $400,000 and he played in only three games. The price for a KHL season will be much higher. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/GettyImages)

By Stu Hackel

They’re packing up and getting ready to go: Locked out NHL players have begun their inevitable migration to Europe in search of work.

Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar are headed to Magnitogorsk to play for Metallurg of the KHL. Jaromir Jagr heads home to Kladno in the Czech Republic to play for his hometown team, which he owns with his father, and it seems that Tomas Plekanec will go with him. Joe Thornton, who met his wife while playing for Davos in the Swiss league during the last lockout, will go back there and could be joined by Rick Nash, his linemate in Davos that season. Ilya Kovalchuk, Ruslan Fedotenko, Lubomir Visnovsky, Jiri Tlusty, Mark Streit, Yannick Weber, Jiri Hudler, Jussi Jokinen and goalies Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov are also part of the first wave of signings across the Atlantic. There are indications that Alex Ovechkin, Logan Couture, Niklas Backstrom and Anze Kopitar could be right behind while Pavel Datsyuk, who had reportedly been signed actually remains undecided.   (You can follow the post-lockout transactions here.)

These signings occasionally get murky, confirmed then unconfirmed. The player and the team must agree on the money, the player has to be formally transferred by the IIHF (Nail Yakopov is having that problem) and there is also the matter of insurance and we’ll get into that below.

What’s not murky is that while players wait for negotiators to reach an agreement, staying in shape is a priority. That’s why some choose to play in Europe. They can rent ice in North America and scrimmage with each other all they want, or practice with established clubs in their areas on a daily basis, but nothing takes the place of real games. For some, especially those who have families in North America, it’s not always an easy decision to pick up and go, so they may delay a Euro decision in hope that the sides reach an agreement sooner rather than later. But the longer this CBA stalemate goes on, the more those who remain here will consider going over.

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