Penguins star Evgeni Malkin’s injury rehab on the fast track

By Dmitry Chesnokov

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/

Sat Jun 04 01:04pm EDT

When Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin(notes) suffered a season ending injury after crashing into the boards last February, it was difficult to predict how long it would take Geno to recover. (Watch the video here.)

Following the surgery on the torn ALC and MCL, Malkin's father commented that Evgeni was taking it hard psychologically. In March, Pavel Bure, who had similar injuries that ultimately ended his career, gave the following advice to Malkin in an interview to Puck Daddy:

"You have to have the right mindset and do everything to recover quicker. And if you're depressed it is not going to help. You just have to react positively. You have to do everything that depends on you to come back faster. It will depend on how you're going to train, how much time you are going to spend in the gym, how you're going to get your muscle tone back."

Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review put the typical recovery time for this injury at six months. But today, it looks like Malkin's recovery is going a lot quicker than expected. He started his rehab back in Pittsburgh, where he stayed through mid-May.

According to Evgeni Malkin's father (what a source), who spoke with Pavel Lysenkov of Sovetsky Sport, Malkin flew to Moscow on May 10 and started on-ice workouts immediately.

"Evgeni is seriously focused. I am not even sure he will vacation somewhere this summer. He wants to approach the start of the NHL season in top form," Malkin Sr. told Lysenkov.

It is good news for the Penguins that Malkin's recovery is seemingly going well and he is well enough to take to the ice. The news of Malkin's recovery may be even more important for the Penguins considering a report out of Canada that Sidney Crosby's(notes) career may be "compromised."
According to Montreal's 98.5 FM radio station, RDS commentator Mario Tremblay claims Crosby was the victim of four (!) concussions in the past five years. Allegedly, Crosby suffered two concussions playing junior hockey, followed by two in January after hits from David Steckel and then Victor Hedman(notes).

This report comes out just a day after it was announced that Sidney Crosby was cleared by a doctor to resume off-ice workouts targeting a return to ice in late July or early August.

Related: Sidney Crosby, Victor Hedman, Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins