Crosby makes his point, if anybody’s listening

The most interesting moment from Sidney Crosby’s news conference this afternoon—at least, to me—isn’t getting prominent play in the first batch of stories on what the sidelined hockey superstar had to say.

The Globe is interested in the fact that there’s no timetable for Crosby’s return to play after his long recovery from two concussions. The Star emphasizes the same point. Did anybody really expect firm dates? The Post is intrigued that he never considered retiring from hockey. Was there some reason to think he was contemplating hanging ‘em up? The CBC is leading with the unsurprising confirmation that he won’t be ready in time for Pittsburg Penguins training camp.

But I had to search a bit to find Pittsburgh Sports Depot making a headline with the part that grabbed my attention—Crosby’s most persuasive call to date for a complete ban on head shots in the National Hockey League.

“As a League, as a union, I think we’ve all educated ourselves a lot in the last six or seven months. I think it can go further,” he said. “At the end of the day I don’t think there’s a reason not to take [body checks to the head] out.”

I don’t know where Crosby gets his numbers, but he cited the statistic that of 50,000 hits a year in the league just 50 are head shots. And he appealed to the professionalism of his fellow players, saying they’ve surely got the skill to “control what’s going on other there”—a rebuttal to anyone who contends hits to the head are inevitable in a fast game with lots of contact.

I liked the parallel he drew between the fact that players aren’t allowed to go flailing around with their sticks and the suggestion that they should also be required to keep their elbows and shoulders down. “If a guy’s got to be responsible with his stick, you have to be responsible with the rest of your body. Whether it’s accidental or not accidental, you have to be responsible out there.”

Sensible, pointed, low-key—Crosby made the case for a new rule in a way that deserves top billing in coverage of his talk with the media today.