Penguins forward Bennett to have wrist surgery

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Beau Bennett needs surgery to repair a hand/wrist injury that never fully healed.

He is scheduled to have surgery next week and said he expects to be prepared for training camp next season.

Bennett was expected to return in early March after missing three months. A setback kept him out for another few weeks; he finally returned March 28 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He played in the final nine regular-season games and the Penguins' first 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games but was scratched for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round series against the New York Rangers. He said Thursday he wasn't completely healthy in the postseason.

"Unfortunately that setback I had was a back-to-square-one setback," Bennett said. "They gave me the option to either play with it or get [the surgery] done then and there in February, and I was kind of sick of watching and I was taping it and hoping for the best and that kind of limited me in that way."

Beau Bennett

Right Wing - PIT

GOALS: 1 | ASST: 4 | PTS: 5
SOG: 14 | +/-: -1

Bennett has been plagued by injuries throughout his two NHL seasons. After a productive rookie season with three goals and 14 points in 26 games, he had three goals and seven points in 21 regular-season games, missing 61 with injuries.

"It's something that's unfortunate," Bennett said. "The season ends and it's back into a cast and having to deal with that whole thing. But I think going forward I'll be a lot better than I did for the last 20 games that I played this year."

Bennett said he will remain in Pittsburgh for the surgery before going home to California. He said he will return to Pittsburgh earlier than he usually would to rehabilitate the injury.

"The surgery is supposed to do a job and it's no one's fault," Bennett said. "It just didn't work out the way we wanted it to. So the next step is something I feel a lot more comfortable about. It's kind of the last straw for me to be able to work out and be able to play to the best of my abilities, and I think going forward it's going to help me a lot."

Bennett had five points in 12 playoff games, but his only goal came in Game 1 of the first round against the Blue Jackets and he had one assist in six games against the Rangers. He was especially critical of his effort in Game 6 against New York.

"I don't want to make any excuses," he said. "The wrist thing, it is what it is. I tried to play as hard as I could and the Ranger games, I was useless out there, to be honest. I was just trying to get the puck deep. I couldn't make plays, couldn't push on guys. So hopefully I don't have to deal with that feeling of, 'I can't do it out there.'"