Crosby just said that Malkin is feeling better today.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) February 24, 2013
Ok, so it's not scientific, it's not from a doctor and no one but Sidney Crosby could tell you any better about the good days and bad days that come along from a head/neck injury, but this quote is still refreshing to see.
It goes to show that Evgeni Malkin is still in some contact with his teammates, which a lot of times injured NHL players disappear and keep their distance from their healthy counterparts that need to concentrate on the business at hand for the season.
It's also just good to hear, even second hand, that Malkin is feeling OK today less than two days removed from his fall into the end-boards on Friday night. The Trib's other writer, Rob Rossi, reported yesterday that Malkin had "severe headaches" and "mild disorientation" yesterday, which considering the impact he took is pretty reasonable.
The Penguins have not yet offered a timeline or an official diagnosis of Malkin, past saying he's out for tonight's game. Ideally, his symptoms would already be behind him, and that would start with having another good day tomorrow. One would think after the symptoms clear, the team and player would try the next step and have him return to a practice to see if he can physically handle that. If that goes well, then you could begin to think about getting back in a lineup.
As we painfully learned with Crosby, this could take months. But, as we also learned, each person is different and each person's brain and head can recover at dramtically different rates. We don't yet know if Malkin is at the beginning or the end of his road to recovery, and to speculate would be careless. It's just nice today to hear through Crosby that Malkin is feeling OK at this time.