Crosby injured wrist before the playoffs and could still require surgery, says agent

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby is no longer planning to have surgery on his injured right wrist, preferring to pursue an alternative treatment option that will include a series of injections and, if successful, would allow the superstar pivot to avoid going under the knife.

"If this treatment works, you avoid surgery and move on," said Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson of Creative Artist Agency, who spoke at length with Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week. "If it doesn't, he will have to go that [surgical] route.

"It's a form of injection that has been proven to work, but sometimes it doesn't work," Brisson continued vaguely. "I don't want to get into all the details.

Crosby hopes to avoid surgery if his treatment is successful and in the meantime will be able to continue training for next season, but it would seem that at least two doctors were convinced that surgery would be necessary. Via Molinari:

Brisson confirmed that, as of July 8, "a couple of doctors [had] recommended the surgery," but said Crosby sought another opinion the next day and received yet another -- this one, from the doctor who suggested the injections -- Monday.

"We explored another option that was a second opinion, [then] we explored a third one and were recommended to perhaps explore something else rather than having surgery right away," Brisson said.

"We scheduled an appointment with another physician and were told [Monday] that with this certain treatment, this may work."

So Crosby explored his options and opted for a less intrusive, more conservative course of treatment for his wounded wrist. Crosby's camp expects to be able to make the determination about whether or not surgery will still be required within a couple of weeks. 

"If you have other options, other alternatives, to resolve an issue and avoid surgery, you might as well explore them," Brisson explained. 

Finally, Brisson settled the "was Crosby injured in the playoffs?" question, which was debated endlessly this spring as the reigning Hart Trophy winner turned in an uncharacteristically ineffective playoff performance. According to Brisson - who would know - Crosby's wrist injury originally occurred in March, so he was definitely playing through this injury at the time.

"He knew that something was wrong, but kept going," Brisson said. "Obviously, you don't talk about these things [while still involved in games], but you have to heal at some point."