Boston Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton has offered up some advice to teammate Zdeno Chara as the gargantuan blueliner preps for All-Star captaincy duties.

When it comes time to draft teams, don’t draft any Canucks.

“If it was me,” Thornton said on The Toucher and Rich Show (98.5 The Sports Hub, Boston) this morning. “I probably wouldn’t pick somebody from Vancouver.”

Thornton’s comments are hardly surprising given what’s transpired recently. The ongoing debate over his non-fight with Vancouver’s Dale Weise (yes, Weise ducked out of it) spilled over to the media, resulting in a televised confrontation with a Vancouver-based sportswriter who questioned Thornton’s enforcer ethics.

Also, the Bruins dislike the Canucks and Thornton’s a Bruin. So there’s that.

Thornton also had some drafting advice with regards to his and Chara’s former Bruins teammate, Phil Kessel. Kessel was Mr. Irrelevant a year ago — taken last overall, a somewhat humiliating moment — and Thornton thinks it’d be funny for Kessel to get it again.

“Absolutely, and for no other reason then I would think it was funny that he got picked last for a couple years in a row,” he said. “I would try to keep it going for as long as possible.”

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is dealing with something more serious than a concussion.

On HOCKEY CENTRAL Saturday, Bob McCown of Sportsnet 590 The Fan reported that Crosby was concerned about the treatment he was receiving in Pittsburgh, so he saw a specialist in Utah where an MRI indicated that there was an abnormality with Crosby's C1 and C2 vertebrae.

The Prime Time Sports host said he learned of the news on Wednesday and said there were two unnamed sources close to the situation that he was in contact with.

Crosby went to the Utah doctor on the recommendation of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who is Crosby's friend.

The 24-year-old is scheduled to meet with his team of doctors this week to examine how well he is recovering from his concussion-like symptoms, according to the team's general manager Ray Shero.

"We'll see, hopefully, next week where he is (after) we get the reports from California," Shero told media following the Board of Governors meeting during All-Star Weekend in Ottawa. "The thing with Sidney is we want to continue to look to see how we can get this under control and manageable ... hopefully we'll have him back here at some point soon."

Crosby has traveled to California and Atlanta in the past several weeks where he met with a neurological spine surgeon and a chiropractor who specializes in neurological treatment.

Sportsnet's Louis Jean spoke to Crosby's agent Pat Brisson who said: "The neck injury was reported by doctor Robert Bray in L.A. this week. We will seek confirmation from a third doctor in the next 24-48 hours based on the cat scans and MRI results."

Bray said in a brief statement released Saturday that Crosby's injury is fully healed and that his findings will be evaluated by independent specialists.

The statement did not provide further details on the nature of the injury.

The Penguins insist they will not reinsert Crosby into the lineup until he is 100 per cent healthy and there is no timetable for his return.

Crosby was first diagnosed with a concussion on Jan. 5 of last year and was out of action for 11 months. Crosby returned to the Penguins lineup in late November where he played eight games, recording two goals and 10 assists, but hasn't suited up since Dec. 5.

The C1 and C2 vertebrae are the vertebral bones at the top of a person's spine that protect the spinal cord. The C1 is the spinal bone attached to a person's skull and the C2 is located right below it. These two vertebrae are shaped differently than the rest of a person's spine because they are largely what allows the head to rotate.