Sidney Crosby Discusses His Wrist Injury

Sidney Crosby first injured his left wrist seven years ago in a collision with a future teammate, Ryan Reaves, shortly after the Penguins captain returned from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
"Reavo got ahold of me pretty good at home here after the Olympics," Crosby said with a wry grin. "It was something that I kind of had to manage since then."

It's absolutely remarkable to think of what Crosby was able to accomplish over that time - including two Stanley Cup championships, two Conn Smythe Trophies, a Ted Lindsay Award, Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Rocket Richard Trophy, and numerous All-Star selections - all while dealing with the injury.
"There were points when it bugged me more than others, but it wasn't terrible," Crosby said. "It was just something that was kind of nagging. You just get used to it. It's just something that is part of your daily routine as far as managing it."
That extended into each offseason, where Crosby was able to continue managing it with rest and recovery, and avoided surgery until last year. He had a scope on Aug. 31, 2020, and was fortunate not to miss any games due to injury.
Unfortunately, his wrist increasingly became more of a factor throughout last season and then into this summer, which resulted in Crosby undergoing surgery on Sep. 8, with a recovery timeline of six weeks minimum.
"We tried to rehab it and you try to avoid surgery. That's the last resort," Crosby said. "Sometimes eventually it would come later on in the summer, and this year, it didn't. It just wouldn't come back over the summer. So I think we all felt like it was something where I wouldn't have got through this season if I didn't take care of it.
"Unfortunately end up missing some time here early, but I guess the other side of that was probably missing a lot more games in the middle of the year. Glad that we took care of it, and hopefully I can get back in the lineup here shortly."

Crosby, who has yet to make his season debut, started off skating on his own with one hand on the stick and no pucks, before eventually progressing to stickhandling and shooting. He joined the team for the first time on Oct. 9, and has been able to do more when it comes to battling when he has participated in practices ever since.
But Crosby said he still hasn't really had any force, whether it be through faceoffs, lifting sticks and just going up against guys, and that's the next hurdle that he has to clear. Especially since Crosby usually takes about 20-25 draws a game, so that's something that has definitely got to be there.
"Battling, pushing around, shoving, those are things I haven't been able to do," he said. "So when I can do that comfortably and be able to do it without pain, or just being able to kind of manage those things, I think that'll be a big step."
After having two scheduled days off the ice on Wednesday and Thursday, Crosby practiced with the Penguins on Friday. He's been ruled out for Saturday's game versus Toronto, and said he doesn't have a specific return date in mind. The goal is just for Crosby to keep making progress as he continues to go through the rehab process.
"The biggest thing that I've seen in the last couple of weeks, is just with each step that Sid takes, he gets a little bit more confident in the situations that we put him in," Sullivan said. "And certainly we want him to have full confidence that when he does go back in the lineup, he can do what he does best."
In the meantime, Crosby has been impressed with what he's seen from his teammates - who have collected at least a point (2-0-2) in all four of their games without both of their franchise centers, as Evgeni Malkin is out at least the first two months after undergoing offseason knee surgery.
"Everyone's playing the same way," Crosby said. "Every line that goes out there over the boards is playing hard and playing fast, and we're not giving teams a lot of time and space. Our work ethic is kind of setting the tone for everything else. We've made some nice plays, we've made some big plays, and obviously early on preparation is so big. Everyone's trying to adjust and find their game, and I feel like right from Game 1, we got to our game pretty quickly. So it's good to kind of get to that identity early and really get to know that."