PENGUINS:
The headaches are gone. Finally. So are the doubts, the ones Sidney Crosby couldn't outrun as he rehabilitated from concussion-like symptoms that robbed hockey's best player from two years in the middle of his prime.
It's no fun waking up the morning after a punishing workout and have your mind immediately drift to whether or not you'll end the day in a quiet room with the lights off hoping the pain stops. Neither is fending off constant speculation and breathless rumors about your health.
Those days, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain insists, have vanished. They disappeared over the summer, when Crosby began his annual summer ritual back home in Canada of pushing himself beyond his limits in an effort to regain the form that made him the most dominant player on the planet before a pair of hits to the head in January 2011 seemed to put his career in jeopardy.
"I'd be lying if I said the first couple weeks I wasn't evaluating that a bit but through the first few workouts, as long as anything doesn't come up, you don't really think about it," Crosby said.
The 25-year-old head's is clear in more ways than one. He signed a 12-year, $104.4 million contract extension last June that will keep him in Pittsburgh until he's pushing 40.
FLYERS:
The Philadelphia Flyers have named Claude Giroux the 19th captain in team history.
General manager Paul Holmgren made the announcement Tuesday night. The Flyers say Kimmo Timonen will serve as associate captain, and Scott Hartnell and Danny Briere will serve as alternate captains.
Giroux takes over for defenseman Chris Pronger. Pronger has not played for the Flyers since Nov. 19, 2011 and still suffers from lingering effects of multiple concussions.
CANUCKS:
The Vancouver Canucks have another hole to fill on their second line.
David Booth, who has yet to take part in training camp, will be out four to six weeks with a groin strain.
Canucks coach Alain Vigneault revealed the extent of the injury Tuesday, a day after Booth underwent an MRI. His absence leaves two holes on Vancouver's second line because center Ryan Kesler is recuperating from offseason shoulder and wrist surgery and remains out indefinitely.