The Pens might have their captain back on Thursday. (Getty Images) will not be in the lineup on Sunday afternoon when the host the . The team announced that on Saturday after the morning skate.When Crosby announced earlier in the week that he had been cleared for contact, he put a cautious estimate of playing on Sunday as a po sibility. Instead, the Crosby Watch shifts to Thursday when the Penguins visit the in a huge Atlantic Division game.Now don't take this is as bad news in his recovery efforts. He said he hasn't suffered any setbacks or anything like that, the initial estimate of Sunday was just that, an estimate."Ive been really happy with the way Ive felt leading up to this point," Crosby said. What delaying a few days does do is give him more practice time. With the Pens having a few days off in a row, he can get out on the ice and get a chance to get knocked around. He Leicester City Jersey bemoaned the lack of practice time (imagine that) with the team in the middle of their schedule. Now he will get a chance to get his feet wet(ter)."Hopefully, the next few days with the practices we have I can really get a good idea of where Im at and go from there," Crosby said."I still think I need to get to another level as far as the extent of the physicality out there." It sure sets the stage for an even more interesting return, too. Crosby stepping right into a race that all of a sudden has tightened up because of the play of not only his team while he's been out but the Rangers' recent slide. Now he'll have the grand stage of MSG to return to ... maybe. It's still no guarantee that he'll play then, either.Of course, it would have been a big stage on Sunday too. The game is going to be NBC's nationally broadcast game of the week and it would have the added intrigue of coming against the last team he played. You'll remember that it was a somewhat innocent-looking elbow from that knocked Crosby back out of the lineup and had people thinking he suffered another concu sion. It was later discovered he was dealing with a soft-ti sue neck i sue that was compounding the problems.Ah, who am I trying to fool: Crosby could come back in a game at Florida or Phoenix and it would be a ma sive ordeal. That's what happens when you're the game's biggest star going. But at least we know he's close, damn close. Ghana Jersey