Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby appears as if he won't be playing any professional hockey in the near future.

Crosby can't play in Europe like many of his fellow NHLers because the insurance on Crosby could be as much as $400,000 a month, according to his agent Pat Brisson.

Crosby has had a history of serious concussions and neck injuries and no team in Europe simply has the money to insure a player short term.

He has had offers to play with his teammate Max Talbot in a series of charity games in Quebec, but again it is hard pressed that a charity would dole out the money needed to insure Crosby.

Crosby has been keeping busy in during the lockout however. Earlier in the fall, he and a few players gathered in Colorado for on and off-ice workouts and just this past week he and some other players worked on on-ice game situations in Dallas.

"We played controlled scrimmages," he said. "That was good. It had whistles and was a little more game-like. ... It was good just to change from doing the same thing every day."

These workouts may not be the same as actual game action, but right now you take what you can get.