Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Penguins' Sidney Crosby likely to miss start of season after wrist procedure

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 9/8/21

Fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins received some disturbing news Wednesday.

Penguins general manager Ron Hextall announced via an official statement that superstar and captain Sidney Crosby will miss the start of training camp and be sidelined at least six weeks after having a procedure on his left wrist performed by Dr. Robert Hotchkiss of New York along with team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas.

"This is not a new injury for Sid," Hextall explained. "It is something that he has played through for years. After exhausting all minimally-invasive options and much discussion, it was decided that surgery was in his best interest."

GM Ron Hextall on Crosby: "Sid has been dealing with this for numerous years now... It takes weeks to figure out where the wrist is at and if it could get through another year. The conclusion that we came to was this procedure was the best way to proceed."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 8, 2021

Hextall continued: "We all, including Sid, wish we had known this a month or two months ago - that would be great, but we are where we are. On the positive side, we've got four weeks before we play a regular-season game."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 8, 2021

Pittsburgh opens the upcoming campaign at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 12, so the timeline suggests Crosby won't be ready for opening night less than five full weeks from today.

Crosby, 34, is arguably the greatest player of his generation, and the three-time Stanley Cup champion remains Pittsburgh's most important and best overall asset. Per ESPN stats, he led the Pens for the 2020-21 regular season with 24 goals, 38 assists, and 62 points.

Zac Wassink is a football and futbol aficionado who is a PFWA member and is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment. Erik Lamela and Eli Manning apologist. Chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. Whoops. You can find him on Twitter at @ZacWassink.

More must-reads: