The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who’s considered by many to be the best hockey player in the world, is still sitting on the sidelines a year after being injured in the NHL’s Outdoor Classic game against the Washington Capitals. Crosby received a concussion in January 2011 and has played just eight games since.

The 24-year-old Crosby attempted to comeback earlier this season, but after the eight games said he was feeling concussion-like symptoms and returned to the sidelines. In late January, a doctor said Crosby had a fractured neck and that could be the cause of his problems. However, another doctor has now stated that he doesn’t have a fractured neck, but has a soft tissue injury.

There are several doctors working with the star center, but none of them know when Crosby may have picked up the injury. It could have happened back in 2011 or sometime this season when he made the short comeback. However, the medical team said the condition is treatable. Crosby last played a game on Dec. 5, 2011. He missed the last half of last season as well as the playoffs and has played just eight times this season.

The problem is, the doctors don’t know if Crosby has both a concussion and a neck injury or if the neck problem is the cause of the concussion-like symptoms. The Penguins and Crosby are obviously hoping the neck injury is the only problem he has to deal with. Crosby said he’s encouraged that the neck injury could be the root of all that ails him and will start to receive treatment on it as soon as possible. The injury isn’t considered to be career threatening, but multiple concussions are.

The league misses Crosby since he’s viewed as a legitimate star. By the time he was 22 years old he had already won the league’s MVP trophy, a scoring championship, an Olympic gold medal, and a Stanley Cup. Crosby said that he’s feeling okay, and has resumed skating, but hasn’t been cleared to practice with his teammates.

Since it’s taken over a year for doctors to properly diagnose Crosby’s injury, there have been reports that he isn’t very happy with the Penguins’ medical staff and other doctors he’s visited over the past dozen or so months. Crosby said he’s just concerned about treating the injury and getting back on the ice as soon as possible.

The original injury took place at Heinz field in Pittsburgh on Jan. 1, 2011 in the NHL’s annual outdoor game. Crosby was hit by Washington’s David Steckel and was then hit again by Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 5 and was diagnosed with a concussion. The then complained of fatigue, headaches, motion discomfort, and dizziness over the next few months. He was cleared to practice in late September 2011, but didn’t return to the lineup until Nov. 21 when he scored a pair of goals and assists against the New York Islanders.

However, after scoring 12 points in eight games he was sidelined again with a re-occurrence of the concussion-like symptoms. He tried to practice with the team on Dec. 7, but said he was still suffering from headaches. He’s now skating on his own and will see if treatment for the neck injury solves his headache problem.

The NHL is still trying to keep the Phoenix Coyotes from moving out of Glendale, Arizona while fans in Quebec, Canada are hoping the league isn’t successful. Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, said the league wants to sell the franchise to somebody who’s willing to keep the club where it is and he’s hoping a deal can be made before the current season is over.

He revealed there there’s a third possible buyer for the team now, making it three in total. These include Jerry Reinsdorf, who owns Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox, and Greg Jamison, who’s a former executive with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. However, Bettman didn’t reveal who the third potential buyer is.

He added that there’s a plan B in place in case the franchise can’t be sold to somebody who wants to keep it in Phoenix. This backup plan involves relocating the team to Quebec City or somewhere else, such as Las Vegas, Seattle, or Kansas City. He said the league isn’t really look into that scenario at the moment until it’s obvious there’s no alternative in the situation.

Quebec used to have an NHL franchise in the past, the Nordiques, but lost it when it moved to Colorado. However, there’s hope in the French-Canadian city because the Winnipeg Jets also lost their franchise about 15 years ago, ironically to Phoenix, but were awarded a new one when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated there this season.

Quebec is already preparing for a new team just in case and the city is planning on building a new arena later this year. There’s also a possible owner for a team in Quebec as Pierre-Karl Peladeau, who heads up a giant media company called Quebecor, has said he’s interested in bringing an NHL team back to the city.

Quebec would seem to be the frontrunner if the league moves the franchise. There’s an old rink in Seattle, where the NBA’s Supersonics to call home, and Kansas City has an arena, but no potential owner at this point. Las Vegas would also need an ice-hockey arena built too. There’s still the old Le Colisee in Quebec where the old NHL team used to play, and that could be used until the new rink is completed. However, the NHL won’t consider moving to Quebec until some commitment is shown, such as starting construction on a new rink.

Bettman said he’s not sure if Le Colisee is suitable for NHL games at the moment and it’s not something the league has looked into. He said people shouldn’t get their hopes up since the Coyotes could very well be staying put. It also seems that Bettman isn’t too thrilled with Regis Labeaume, the mayor of Quebec City, as Labeaume is putting the cart before the horse in the matter and the league has told him numerous times what the situation and preference is for the league.

In the meantime, the NHL will continue to operate the Coyotes, as they’ve been doing since 2009 and continue to look for a new owner to take over the franchise.

Being the only American on last season’s team, Tim Thomas’ absence was quite noticeable when the Boston Bruins visited President Obama at the White House on Jan. 23. The all-star goalie and his teammates were invited by the president to honor the Bruins for winning the NHL’s Stanley Cup last season. The Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks on the road in the seventh and final game of their exciting series. However, serious rioting took place in downtown Vancouver after the final whistle.

Thomas had an excellent series and was one of Boston’s key players during the playoffs. He was named the winner of last year’s Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the best goalie in the NHL and he also took home the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is awarded to the most valuable player in the playoffs.

The Bruins management said it had been trying to convince Thomas to attend the event, but he said he wouldn’t change his mind and didn’t want to go for political reasons. Cam Neely, the club’s president, said that Thomas chose not to make the trip and it was basically his choice whether or not he wanted to go. He said the team definitely wished he had joined them, but it’s over and done with now.

Peter Chiarelli, the Bruins’ general manager said he discussed the White House trip with Thomas for weeks, but it didn’t really do him any good as the 38-year-old refused to go. Chiarelli said that the Bruins could technically suspend Thomas for not showing up to a team event, but that’s definitely not going to happen. Thomas is well known in NHL circles for his strong conservative beliefs and has sometimes been referred to as a Tea Party patriot.

The goalie actually released a Facebook statement on his page following the reception explaining why he didn’t want to attend the event in Washington. He said he feels the federal government in America has gotten out of control and is threatening its citizens’ rights, liberties and property at the judicial, legislative, and executive level.

Thomas, who hails from Flint, Michigan, added that this is in opposition to what the Constitution stands for and what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they created the government. He went on to say he felt both the Republicans and Democrats are to blame and it was his individual choice as a free citizen not to show up at the White House.

Thomas’ decision was met with a mixed reaction. Many people felt he deserved respect for taking a stand on his political beliefs and had no problem with his statement. However, others were openly critical of him and said he was taking advantage of political opportunism. Some people said he had the right to refuse the invitation, but should have just stayed at home without releasing a statement as to why he missed the event. They felt it wasn’t necessary to explain why he wasn’t there with his teammates.

Dick Pound, who is the former boss of the World Anti-Doping Agency and now a board member of the organization, said a couple of years ago that one out of three NHL players was taking some type of illegal substances. However, he never backed it up with any proof. Two years later he still feels the same way even thought the league has introduced a new drug testing policy. Pound said it’s better than nothing, but still falls well short of the mark.

He said the NHL’s testing was never made public which makes it hard to tell exactly what’s going on and if it’s effective or serious at all. He said the league wasn’t taking drug use seriously in the past and expressed amazement at a statement made by Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, who said there aren’t any types of banned substances that would benefit a hockey player. Bettman said there’s no point testing the players since they don’t take anything to enhance their performances.

Pound said it’s unlikely that the NHL will catch anybody cheating since the measures of the testing aren’t stringent enough. But Pound said the NHL isn’t the only North American league that doesn’t take banned substances seriously enough. He said most of the continent’s pro sports leagues are the same in their outlook and approach to the problem.

Pound said that one of the  major reasons the NHL doesn’t find players breaking the rules is because the league only does its testing during the season and forgets about it in the off season. This way players can use substances in the summer and it’s out of their systems by the time the season faces off. He added that the NHL doesn’t even test its players for stimulants even though this is their substance of choice.

Former NHL player Georges Laraque agrees with Pound and said in his recent book that performance-enhancing drugs are quite common in the NHL. He feels the hockey league doesn’t want to catch its players taking drugs because it might result in a long line of the league’s stars being suspended and that won’t help sell the game. Players unions are also a big problem according to Pound because they usually fight against drug testing for some unknown reason.

When it comes to  other pro sports, Pound said he believes that golf is the cleanest of them all due to its code of behavior. He said basketball has so many other problems at the moment which pushes substance abuse down the list. He feels baseball’s on the right track, but they don’t test for enough substances.

He said human growth hormone is a problem, but too many lawyers are trying to approve that it shouldn’t be on the list of banned substances. Pound said that football claims to have the best testing policy around, but when you look at the players it’s pretty obvious to him that some of the rules are being flouted.

Scott Arniel had the poor fortune of becoming the seventh National Hockey League coach to be fired so far this season when the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets let him go on Jan. 9 after losing to the equally inept Anaheim Ducks the night before. The club announced that Arniel’s assistant coach, Todd Richards will take over the team for the remainder of the 2011/12 campaign.

This was Arniel’s second season in charge of Columbus and he had a 45-60-18 record in that time after 123 games behind the bench. At the time of his dismissal, the Blue Jackets were the worst team in the 30-team league with an 11-25-5 record and look certain to miss the playoffs again even though there’s still half a season to play.

Arniel has quite a bit of company this season when it comes to being an ex coach as the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings have all replaced their head coaches thus far. Arniel led the Blue Jackets to a 34-35-13 record last season and was the fifth coach in the franchise’s history.

Arniel and the team dug themselves a huge hold at the start of the season by losing their first eight games and earning just a single point in the standings in the process. The team also lost six games in a row in December and has won two consecutive games on just one occasion so far this season. It seems the final straw came on Jan. 8 when the Blue Jackets were humbled 7-4 in Anaheim.

Scott Howson, the manager of the Blue Jackets said he wasn’t sure why the team struggled so much during the first half of the NHL season. He said Arniel worked hard at his job and did everything possible to succeed since he’s a good person and coach, but things just didn’t fall into place when the team hit the ice. What Howson didn’t mention was Arniel’s rocky relationship with some of his players as well as several members of the press.

The 45-year-old Richards of Minnesota was hired as an assistant coach by the club last summer and has head coaching experience in the league. He was the Minnesota Wild’s head coach for the last two seasons, but was let go after compiling a 77-71-16 record and missing the playoffs both of his seasons in charge in St. Paul. Before his stint in Minnesota, Richards worked with the San Jose Sharks as an assistant coach during the 2008-09 season.

He also served as the head coach for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the American Hockey League, which is the affiliate team of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He coached the club for two season 2006 to 2008 and compile a fine record of 98-49-13. He also led the team to the 2008 Calder Cup Finals. Even though Richards served as Arniel’s assistant, Howson said he expects him to bring a new and fresh approach to the table as the club attempts to turn its season around before it’s too late.

There’s a good chance the NHL will experience the same type of labor troubles the NBA and NFL went through last year when their collective bargaining agreements expired. The National Hockey League recently announced a major realignment scheme for next season, but the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) shot it down on Jan 6 and it could be a sign of things to come since their CBA runs out on Sept. 15.

The last time the union and league went to war over the bargaining agreement the entire 2004-05 NHL season was lost. After the NHLPA said it didn’t agree to the realignment the league had no choice but to announce the 2012-13 realignment and new playoff format had been delayed. The NHL said the majority of its 30 teams voted for the changes, but the NHLPA unreasonably refused to give its approval even though fans and players alike appeared to be in favor of it.

But according to the union, the players aren’t in favour of realignment because two of the conferences will have seven teams and the other two conferences will have eight teams. They feel it will be easier for teams in the smaller conferences to make the playoffs and there are also travel concerns when playing non-conference games.

The players’ union has a new boss in Donald Fehr and this will be his first time at the negotiating table with the NHL. He said the players have competition and travel concerns and that’s why the union refused to go along with the proposal at this moment. Fehr said the players have many questions regarding the amount of travel, days off, later flights, and unfair competition advantages for some teams.

The league announced plans for realignment late last year and it was mainly done to accommodate the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets re-joined the league this season after the franchise moved from Atlanta. However, the team was placed in the Eastern Conference in the Southeast Division even though it’s based in a western time zone. Realignment would have seen the Jets placed in a western conference while Detroit, which is currently in the West Conference, would be moved back to the east.

The simple solution would appear to be just swapping places between Winnipeg and Detroit. This scenario may be addressed when the union and league begin talks in late January. Things might not get off to a good start though since the league said the union acted unreasonably and is exploring legal avenues to see what can be done about it.

Craig Adams, the NHLPA representative of the Pittsburgh Penguins said the union asked the league if any studies were done regarding the amount and cost of travel in the new format, but no information was given by the NHL. He said the league basically hasn’t proven that realignment and a new playoff format is any better than what’s in place now. Adams added that if the league can prove things will be better then the union might agree to the changes in the future.

However, the league said things will have to remain the same for next season since the schedule and teams’ travel arrangements need to be worked out well ahead of time.

The Montreal Canadiens are the most successful franchise in NHL history with a total of 24 Stanley Cup championships. But they’ve been making headlines this season for all the wrong reasons. The team is struggling on the ice with a 14-18-7 record, good for just 13^th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference and nine points out of the last playoff spot.

Along with their poor performance on the ice the club has also been a mess off of it. Coach Jacques Martin was fired a week before Christmas and replaced by assistant coach Randy Cunneyworth. The team hasn’t improved one iota under the new coach with just one win in his first seven games behind the bench. The fans and media are in an uproar, but not due to the team’s record, they’re furious that the Canadiens hired a head coach who can’t speak French.

It now appears that Cunneyworth’s days in charge of the squad are numbered since general manager Pierre Gauthier has caved into the pressure and thrown his coach under the bus. Gauthier has apologized to the press and fans for hiring a coach who can speak English only. Gauthier released a statement that said the club’s disappointed and sorry if it offended anybody due to hiring somebody who isn’t bilingual, being able to speak English and French.

He added that the team was performing poorly on the ice and thought promoting Cunneyworth into the head coaching position was the right thing to do at the time, but now realizes the organization has made a mistake. Gauthier has changed his tune quite a bit over the past few weeks since he defended Cunneyworth when he was promoted, saying his new coach could easily learn French.

Geoff Molson, the franchise owner, has also let Cunneyworth down by writing an open letter to the team’s fans. Molson wrote that the next coach hired by the team will definitely be able to speak French. Molson added that the whole situation will be reviewed at the conclusion of the season, so, unless Cunneyworth can master the language in the next month or two it looks like he’s out of a job.

Gauthier attempted to defend himself by reiterating that Cunneyworth was given the job on a purely interim basis. However, his own job could and should be in jeopardy now due to the team’s terrible showing and the furor created by the Cunneyworth situation. He’s in a no-win situation since the pro-Cunneyworth supporters are upset with the way the coach has been hung out to dry and the French-speaking fans are angry he was hired in the first place.

The Canadiens play 11 of their first 15 contests in the New Year at home and those games will likely decide whether they make the playoffs or not. Gauthier will also be faced with a lot of contract work since several of his top players are free agents at the end of the season, including defenseman P.K. Subban and goalie Carey Price.

Many Toronto Maple Leaf fans were left scratching their heads on Christmas Day when the club’s general manager Brian Burke confirmed he had given coach Ron Wilson a contract extension. This is Wilson’s fourth year coaching the NHL’s most valuable franchise and he’s missed the playoffs in each of the first three seasons. The Leafs were hanging onto a playoff spot when the news was announced with an 18-13-4 record, but were just three points ahead of the ninth-place Winnipeg Jets. In fact, there are seven teams behind Toronto that could possibly take their playoff spot as they’re all within nine points of them.

As well as missing the playoffs with Toronto each year, Wilson’s clubs have had the worst penalty killing in the league since he took over behind the bench. They’re 30^th and last again this year in that department and were 28^th last season, and dead last in his first two seasons as well. As far as goals against go, the club is sixth-last this season and have finished last, second last, and sixth last out of 30 teams in his previous three seasons.

It’s obvious the team has some glaring deficiencies and thousands of fans are amazed that such ineptitude was rewarded by an extension. It’s conceivable the team will miss the playoffs again this season which would be the seventh year in a row with no post-season action in Canada’s biggest city. Wilson may lead the league when it comes to wins by active coaches at 637 in 1372 games, but even those numbers show he’s won well below half of his games coached.

Burke declined to reveal the details of the contract when he confirmed it, perhaps to keep the uproar by the fans as minimal as possible. It’s those fans that are paying the highest average price for NHL tickets for one of the league’s worst teams over the past decade. The 56-year-old Wilson took over the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2008, just a few weeks after he was canned by the San Jose Sharks. His record with Toronto is 119-120-42 and his overall record over 18 seasons sits at 637-566-169. Wilson’s also coached the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks in the past.

He’s a former NHL player who was drafted in 1975 by the Leafs. He played portions of three season s Toronto before being traded to the Minnesota North Stars where he spent four more years. The Leafs have improved slightly this season due to the fact they have two of the league’s top scorers in Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul. However, even with these players being as hot as they are, the team is struggling to remain in a playoff spot.

If Kessel or Lupul get injured before the season ends it’s almost certain the Leafs will nosedive and miss the playoffs yet again. Many Leaf fans are wondering why Wilson was given an extension before the team sews up a guaranteed playoff spot. Other than the fact that Burke and Wilson are close friends, most fans can’t really figure it out.

Toronto, Canada is one of North America’s worst locations when it comes to the performances of its professional sports franchises. The NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967 and haven’t even made it to a final series since then. The NBA’s Raptors have won a total of one playoff series in their history and the Blue Jays of MLB haven’t made the post season since 1993. Still all of these clubs are more successful than soccer team Toronto F.C of MLS. They haven’t made the playoffs since they joined the league.

It can easily be said all of these teams are pretty bad, but there’s also another common thread now since the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto F.C, and Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) were all recently sold. Canada’s top two telecom companies, Bell and Rogers, joined forces and bought 75 per cent ownership for a total of $1.32 billion from previous owners MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment). Rogers already owned the Blue Jays and now the telecom giants have a monopoly on Toronto sports teams as well as the telecommunications market.

MLSE was funded by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and they confirmed sales of the sports franchises as well as the Air Canada Centre, where the Leafs and Raptors call home. Rogers already owns the Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays and Bell has an 18 per cent stake in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, who play out of the Bell Centre. The other 25 per cent of the former MLSE stocks are owned by Larry Tanenbaum, who had first refusal on the shares that were sold.

The sale still has to be approved by the various leagues, such as the NHL, NBA, and MLS and the Canadian government’s Competition Bureau also has to approve it to make sure the sale doesn’t result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition. Bell also owns TSN, which is one of Canada’s biggest sports networks while Rogers owns the Sportsnet channels which is it fiercest rival. The two companies now have to sort out some type of deal to see which network shows which games. The 66 Raptors contests this season will all be shown on one network or the other.

However, when it comes to the Maple Leafs, which is the NHL’s most valuable franchise, the broadcast deal might not be so easy to split up since both networks view the team as their golden egg. Bell and Rogers also own competing radio stations, but all of the current contracts involving the teams have to be honoured until they expire.

The announcement of the sale had been rumoured for a few weeks, but most fans and journalists wondered aloud how two of the nation’s top rival companies to come to an agreement. Both Rogers and Bell reportedly paid $533 million each while Tanenbaum’s previous stake of about 21 per cent was raised to 25 per cent in a separate deal.  The sale will allow the new owners to broadcast its franchises’ games on a variety of media devices, such as mobile phones and Xboxes.

The sale doesn’t mean the teams will necessarily improve and as one journalist put it, “It just means I can now watch their lousy teams on more electronic devices.”

After getting off to their worst start in 70 years with a 1-5-2 record, most NHL fans figured the Montreal Canadiens had recovered well enough with their 13-12-7 record just a week before Christmas. They were in 11^th place in the league’s Eastern Conference in Dec. 17, but were only two points out of a playoff position.

However, general manager Pierre Gauthier wasn’t satisfied with the team’s performance and fired 59-year-old coach Jacques Martin, replacing him with 50-year-old Randy Cunneyworth, one of his assistant coaches. Gauthier then sent assistant general manager Larry Carriere down behind the bench to assist his new head coach. Gauthier and Martin had worked together previously with the Ottawa Senators in the mid 1990s.

Martin had previously coached the St. Louis Blues for two seasons starting in 1986/87 then headed to Ottawa for a nine-year stint. After that he joined the Florida Panthers for three years, but missed the playoffs each season. He was hired by Montreal before the 2009/10 season got underway and led the club to the Eastern Conference Finals during his first season and a playoff berth last year. He left the Canadiens with a 97-75-25 record in his two years with the club.

Martin escaped a bullet earlier on this season when Gauthier fired his assistant Perry Pearn in late October. The team then won four games in a row and seemed to have turned the corner. However, in their last 12 games under Martin they only won four of them with a record of 4-4-4 and struggled at home where they were just 5-6-6.

Several Canadiens players said Martin wasn’t to blame for the team’s woes and the squad has to play a lot better if they’re going to make the playoffs. They felt his firing was a message to the players that they’re underachieving. The team has been without its best defenseman all season as Andrei Markov is recovering from knee surgery. They added defenseman Tomas Kaberle from Carolina to help out and he had five points in three games with Montreal at the time of Martin’s firing.

Cunneyworth played over 800 NHL games for six different teams in his career and then got into head coaching in the American Hockey League (AHL). His first NHL coaching stint was as an assistant with the former Atlanta Thrashers for two years. He then returned to the AHL and took over as head coach for the Hamilton Bulldogs, who are affiliated with the Canadiens. He joined Montreal this season as one of Martin’s assistants.

Cunneyworth is known around the league for his fondness of using video as a coaching tool and most Canadiens players believe that will continue now he’s the team’s head coach. Martin was known as a defensive coach and most NHL insiders felt he wasn’t utilizing his team’s speed and skill with his tactics. Carriere, who will now assist Cunneyworth, has about 40 years of NHL experience under his belt, but none of it is in the coaching department.