A huge welcome back to Sid and a never before seen look inside his long road to recovery after the jump.

Welcome back, Sid!!!

It wasn't easy for Sid to get to the point of being ready to return. Let's step back and take a look at Sid's long road to recovery.

It's been a long time coming. After the injury, and many times since, we had to be patient.

Sid was being seen by some of the best doctors in their field.

After a while, Sid was cleared for light workouts:

Followed by more rigorous activity:

In the meantime rumors were flying around that Sid may have to retire from hockey. We all wondered what Sid might do to stay busy without hockey:

And how would he make money?

The rumors died down a bit when Sid joined the team for the beginning of training camp. You could see how excited he was to get back in the game.

Then we found out Sid was cleared for contact.

Still there was a lot of work ahead. The challenge of getting back to game readiness was as much mental as it was physical.

Fortunately, Sid was up to that challenge. Finally, tonight he returns to Consol Energy Center: