PITTSBURGH – The headaches that plagued Sidney Crosby for the better part of a year and robbed hockey's best player of nearly two seasons have disappeared.
The Pittsburgh Penguins captain no longer worries about how he'll feel when he wakes up in the morning. The doubts about whether he's really healthy after dealing with concussion-like symptoms for all of 2011 and parts of 2012 are long gone.
The 25-year-old says he doesn't feel any additional pressure to be the player he was before he was injured two years ago. He added no one has higher expectations for his play than he does. Crosby signed a 12-year, $104 million extension last summer that will keep him in Pittsburgh through his prime and beyond.
Healthy and happy, Crosby is only too ready to put all of his focus on leading the Penguins back to the Stanley Cup.
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