Sidney Crosby has giant, swollen face during meeting with media

Sidney Crosby missed practice with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, but returned to the team on Friday. However, when he met with media, it became apparent that Crosby had a very visibly swollen face.

After missing practice on Thursday, Sidney Crosby rejoined the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. When he met with media he looked, well, different.

The right side of Crosby’s face was protruding and quite visibly swollen, leading to speculation that the superstar was the latest player to be hit with the mumps virus. The virus has spread throughout the league, most recently sidelining Adam Larsson and Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils.

You can take a look at Crosby’s interview below:

There’s some cause for concern because one of the known symptoms of mumps is swelling of the glands, which is what it appears Crosby has. However, Penguins coach Mike Johnston has said the Penguins roster has been checked for the virus via bloodwork.

It's been a strange season for injuries, and yet another player missing time to the mumps would be yet another oddity of this season.

If Crosby doesn’t have the virus – which it seems very unlikely he does if he’s been cleared to play – the Penguins should count themselves lucky that they won’t be missing their star for any great length of time. Unfortunately for Crosby, though, this locker room interview wasn’t just for radio as he had hoped.

UPDATE: As a precautionary measure, the Pittsburgh Penguins have decided to hold Crosby out of this weekend's contests, including tonight's game against Calgary and Sunday's game when the Penguins travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets.

"There is no indication at this time that this is the mumps, but we are going to hold him out as a precaution," Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said in a statement from the team. "We'll have additional test results in a few days."