PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) In hockey news that came out of left field, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby underwent a surgery on Wednesday.
According to general manager Ron Hextall, Crosby underwent a successful surgery on his left wrist and stated that it isn’t a new injury for the captain.
In a statement, Hextall stated that Crosby has been playing with the injury for years.
After multiple small procedures and minimally-invasive options, a surgery was needed.
Crosby is expected to miss a minimum of six weeks, and the Penguins release said that he would miss the beginning of training camp.
Six weeks from today is Oct. 20th, over a week after the beginning of the 2021-22 NHL season.
Looking at Crosby’s last few seasons, his numbers wouldn’t indicate he was suffering from a wrist injury.
In 2018-19 Crosby scored 100 points in 79 games; 2019-20 which was a shortened season already, Crosby also suffered a sports hernia injury and still put up 47 points in 41 games.
This past season, Crosby’s scoring took a slow start but he ultimately finished with 62 points in 55 games.
Hextall stated that this is the same wrist Crosby had a surgery on last offseason.
As for why it took so long to get the surgery this year, Hextall said that “There is a process to go through at the end of the season... At the end of the year, you let the body heal and test things out. It takes weeks to figure out where the wrist is."
Hextall went on to say that if everyone, including Crosby, would have known a surgery was necessary, it would have taken place a long time ago.
The Penguins general manager did try and look towards the positives and state that most of his recovery time would happen before the start of the regular season.
“We all hoped we didn’t have to go this way. In the end we did everything we could to avoid this but in the end it was the best way to proceed."