After an optional practice today, Dan Bylsma spoke to the media for the first time about how superstar center Evgeni Malkin is doing. From penguins.com:
Malkin left in the third period of the Penguins’ 3-1 victory Friday night at CONSOL Energy Center after sliding hard into the end boards. He did not return in the game and did not participate in the team’s optional practice at Southpointe Saturday.“He’s still being evaluated as to the extent of the hit and going into the boards hard,” Bylsma said. “That’s an ongoing process at this point in time.”
Bylsma said the Penguins are following the NHL protocol for testing.
“There’s nothing to expect from this point,” Bylsma said. “He’s getting evaluated. We’re waiting to see how he feels and reacts. He went into the boards pretty darn hard. We’re not expecting any timeline to the injury or anything.”
This is about all the Penguins can and probably will say for a while. Bylsma famously gave Sidney Crosby a one week prognosis with a "mild" concussion in January 2011 and Crosby ended up missing over 11 months. Other players feel better within days.
So we're back to square one. It's frustrating, but for right now no one really knows anything. The words "concussion" and "whiplash" and all sorts of things will pop up, but with these kinds of injuries, I think we've all learned it's how the player is feeling and what sort of symptoms (if any) he has as hours and days go by until you can really know how long he might be out.