After wrestling with the decision for a few days, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby have decided time missed now is better than time missed later. The star forward has undergone core muscle surgery and will be out a minimum of six weeks.
Crosby has been dealing with a sports hernia since training camp, but given the rash of other injuries the Penguins have faced decided to play through it for the first quarter of the season. Now that some of those injured bodies are back, the hope in Pittsburgh is that they can keep chugging towards a playoff spot without their captain.
Amazingly, the 32-year old Crosby still had 17 points through his first 17 games this season. The future Hall of Fame forward has reinvented himself once again and recorded his sixth 100-point season in 2018-19, the first since the 2013-14 season. He has also been a picture of health during the last several years, playing at least 75 games in each of the last six seasons. That obviously isn’t going to happen this year.
The Penguins sit at 10-6-2 on the season and will need Evgeni Malkin and company to carry the load for the next while. Whether this news makes GM Jim Rutherford go out and acquire another player is still yet to be seen.