Checking from Behind – A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect or defend himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body. When a player intentionally turns his body to create contact with his back, no penalty shall be assessed.

Sidney Crosby's agent said there's no timetable for the Pittsburgh Penguins star to return from a concussion, the clearest indication yet that he may not be ready when the NHL season begins in October.

Agent Pat Brisson discussed Crosby's recovery and medical status on the team website, apparently in response to reports out of Canada that say the 24-year-old's offseason training regimen has been shut down because of recurring symptoms from a concussion that have sidelined him since January.

Brisson said that's not true, though he acknowledged Crosby recently visited specialists in Michigan and Georgia and said Crosby's symptoms recurred when he got to 90-percent exertion in his offseason workouts, which were adjusted accordingly.

"We've had him see leading specialists because we want to make sure he gets the best care possible," Brisson said. "The Penguins always encourage their players to get second and third medical opinions and have been very supportive of this. And we've been talking to (general manager) Ray Shero every step of the way."

The Penguins open training camp on Sept. 16 and the regular season on Oct. 6, but Brisson said Crosby's return won't be dictated by those deadlines.

"We always knew this was going to be a progressive recovery -- based on how he felt," Brisson said. "With a concussion, there is not a finite recovery period like with a shoulder injury or a knee injury. That's why we've never even set a specific goal for a return date like the start of training camp or Oct. 1 or anything else.

"He will play when he is symptom-free."

Crosby is expected to return to Pittsburgh in a few weeks and will keep working toward a return. Brisson said doctors believe Crosby will make a full recovery, they just can't say how soon.

"I appreciate all the support I've received from my family, friends, teammates and fans and from the entire Penguins organization," Crosby said. "I know they only want the best for my health and for me to be fully ready when I return to game action."

Crosby was injured after taking hard hits in two games in January, including the outdoor Winter Classic game at Heinz Field against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 1, and missed 48 games after last playing Jan. 5.

Crosby participated in his normal offseason workout program, which includes skating and other on- and off-ice activities, before the headaches required unspecified adjustments.

"We wish we could provide more specific details about Sidney's recovery, but a concussion is a different kind of injury," Brisson said. "It's not something you can check with an X-ray. And you can't predict a recovery period. It's all about the way he feels."

CHIARELLI: 'VERY UNLIKELY THAT SAVARD WILL PLAY AGAIN'

Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard may have played in his last NHL game.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli delivered some bleak news to a Boston newspaper on Wednesday.

"Marc Savard won't play this year," Chiarelli told the Boston Globe. "Nothing has changed in our monitoring. He'll be examined and he'll be declared unfit to play.

"Based on what I see, what I hear, what I read, and what I'm told, it's very unlikely Marc will play again," Chiarelli said.

The 34-year-old centre had 10 points in 25 games last season before missing the rest of the year with a concussion.

He was originally hurt by a check from Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke on March 7, 2010.

It is always a shock to the system when tragedy strikes, especially when it is a current NHL player who has died, but with the passing of Wade Belak in Toronto on Wednesday, shocking doesn't begin to describe it.

For starters, Belak is the third NHL player who played NHL games last season who has died in the last four months. New York Ranger Derek Boogaard died in mid-May and former Vancouver Canuck Rick Rypien in mid-August. The passing of Boogaard and Rypien were no less tragic than that of Belak, let us be clear on that. All three performed the NHL's most dangerous and perhaps difficult job, that of the hockey enforcer.

But of the three, Belak is the one who, publicly anyway, came across as the most happy and carefree and at peace with himself.

At the time of Boogaard's death, it was well known by his friends, family and the hockey community that Derek was suffering terribly on every level from post-concussion syndrome. His cause of death was ruled as accidental, a lethal combination of alcohol and prescription pain medication.

Rypien's official cause of death was never formally acknowledged, but it was well known he had been dealing with depression for years and had taken a medical leave of absence from the NHL dating back to last November.

In the case of Belak, his many friends and former teammates, basically anyone who knew him, would be quick to say Belak came across as happy and well-adjusted, a player who had decided to retire this summer to pursue a career in broadcasting.

Belak always came across as friendly and outgoing, the life of any party, quick with a quip, who regularly turned up on a Toronto radio station to poke fun at everyone, including himself. If he were conflicted about the job he did or the life he led, it never showed to so many who called him a friend.

Like Boogaard, Rypien, and for that matter journeyman pro and ex-San Jose Shark Tom Cavanagh, whose mental health issues led to his suicide in mid-January, the death of Belak will impact the NHL and hockey community on every level.

There will no doubt be some hard questions asked of the NHL and NHL Players' Association in the wake of the death of three NHL tough guys in less than four months. Many will be looking for a link between the jobs Boogaard, Rypien and Belak did and what role it may have played in their deaths. Ultimately, those are questions that do need to be asked, though in a measured manner without leaping to unfounded conclusions based on wild speculation.

NHL and NHLPA executives did talk today in the wake of Belak's death. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league is "concerned" and "troubled" by the third NHL death in the last four months. The league is expected to take a hard look at what more can be done to make sure players who need help know it's available to them and how to get it.

But like it or not, there will be many who will also want it to be a look at fighting in hockey and whether it in any way links the three deaths.

For today, though, the tragedy is too raw as the NHL community finds itself grieving yet again, this time on the most unimaginably shocking passing of Wade Belak.