Sidney Crosby Return: How Does His Return Affect Pittsburgh Penguins Chemistry?

Penguins fans, rejoice.

It looks like that, according to the Toronto Star, Sidney Crosby has been cleared for contact and may play as early as the end of this week.

Okay, some bad notion regarding the destruction of team chemistry popped into your head as you were just getting ready to pop some champagne and celebrate.

The Penguins have won six straight, and they're on an absolute roll right now. Do they even need Crosby back? Won't the return of Sid hurt the team chemistry and bring Evgeni Malkin's game down?

The answer to whether Crosby will hurt the team with his return is a large and resounding, "No."

Folks, this is Sidney Crosby we're talking about. If it was some trading deadline acquisition, then maybe chemistry would be an issue. 

The Miami Heat don't get worse when LeBron James returns to an already stacked lineup with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Similarly, the Penguins become a deeper and more complete team with Crosby's return. They've won six in a row and now they're capable of making that 15 in a row. 

Crosby makes the team even better and turns them a sure favorite for the Stanley Cup.

We saw during Crosby's first return that there was no hesitation in his game and that he hadn't missed a beat. He came out and scored 11 points in his first five games, and the Penguins had a 5-2-1 record during his brief eight-game stint.

Crosby's point total may have declined in the last three games before he got hurt again, but this can be attributed to the loss of Kris Letang in that time period. During Letang's absence, the Penguins were merely 10-11, proving how valuable the offensive-minded defenseman is to the team.

It's important to note that Crosby's concussion symptoms returned during that stretch, and it was definitely a reason why the Penguins were a .500 team. It wasn't until Evgeni Malkin started playing like Wayne Gretzky when the Penguins bounced back.

Letang's return helped, too. They've gone 15-4-1 since his return.

Though they've won their last two without Letang, they have a stretch of some difficult games next week against Boston, New York and Philadelphia. 

Crosby's return couldn't be more timely because he'll be available for those tough games without the team's top defenseman.

And once Letang returns to the team, the Penguins will become deadlier than ever. 

At the end of the day, Crosby's return doesn't hurt chemistry. How does replacing Malkin on the Neal-Malkin-Kunitz line hurt the Penguins? It's replacing one NHL superstar player with another. They're both going to make the players around them better. 

With Crosby back in the lineup, the Penguins now have two lines with centers that considerably elevate their forwards. And who's to say the Penguins won't mix and match their wings with their centers? Since when has Dan Byslma kept his lines intact throughout a full 60-minute game?

Throw in Jordan Staal to the third line with Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke, and the Penguins have three solid lines that can score and play puck possession hockey.

People always find a reason to derail Crosby's comebacks by ridiculous conjectures on how he's going to make the team worse. Before his first comeback, the idea of Crosby being hesitant because of his concussion was brought up. This time it's how he's going to obliterate team chemistry.

As if Crosby has never played a game in his life with the Penguins.

The Penguins will obviously need to have Crosby, Malkin and Letang all healthy if they're going to make a Stanley Cup run. They're in a situation right now where they'd have to play the No. 5 seed in the East, and this team will most likely be Philadelphia.

In fact, it's conceivable that the Penguins will play the Flyers, Bruins and Rangers all in the playoffs before playing the Western Conference champion.

That's not an easy playoff run at all. They don't get any breaks. 

It's extremely important for the Penguins to have their full arsenal of players available for the playoff run, and with a fresh Crosby back in the lineup, the sky is the limit for the Pens.

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