Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby admits that he was close to getting offseason surgery on his wrist, but he’s glad that he opted against it and has now essentially put the injury behind him.
“Yeah, I feel good,” Crosby said. “I feel really good. The wrist isn’t even something I think about, to be honest with you.”
Crosby said the wrist is fine now. He trained a lot with Nate MacKinnon this summer and got in shape chasing him around the ice.
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) September 8, 2014
He did provide some interesting extra details about how that injury happened and admitted that it did impact his play in the postseason, though he didn’t want to lean on that too much.
Sidney Crosby on how wrist impacted him in playoffs: "I'm not going to use that as an excuse."
— Katie Strang (@KatieJStrang) September 8, 2014
Crosby said that he suffered the injury thanks to a hit by St. Louis Blues forward Ryan Reaves during a March 23 game. Hockey Buzz’s Ryan Wilson tracked down the specific hit:
Crosby kept playing in that contest, which also went poorly for Evgeni Malkin:
The 3/23 game vs. the Blues, Malkin breaks foot blocking a shot, Reaves hurt Crosby's wrist.
— PensBurgh (@Pensburgh) September 8, 2014
Talk about the beginning of the end..
Malkin’s foot injury sidelined him until the 2014 playoffs. In case you’re wondering, Crosby scored three goals (plus 16 assists) in the 22 combined playoff and regular season games following that game against the Blues, making a case for the 27-year-old being limited (but not totally stopped) by the issue.
Healing up that wrist wasn’t the only concern from this offseason, as the Penguins revamped their front office and a false arrest report surfaced about Crosby. Crosby essentially shrugged the situation off, as he told the team website.
“It’s not the first time something’s been said that’s not true, and it won’t be the last,” Crosby said. “There’s nothing you can really do about it.”
Crosby can control how he plays on the ice, however, and it sounds like he’ll be healthy enough to make the most of that.