In hindsight, it may have been easier for Sidney Crosby to cop to the obvious back in May: Yes, he was hurt.The Pittsburgh Penguins star understandablydidn’t, though, so here we are in July, talking about the wrist surgery he’s set to have over the next few days, .MORE: Crosby had unsucce sfullytried to rehab the injury.The next step is a procedure that”is not major,”a source told the Post-Gazette. Crosby’s wrist, Josh Archibald Jersey per the source,was “terrible,” and didn’t let him play the same way he did during for most of a104-point, Hart Trophy-worthyseason.Crosby’s offensive production actually dovetailed toward the end of the regular season, though; he had two goals in his last 10 games, then put up one in 13 playoff games. Good as he was during the postseason and racking up a sists it was pretty clear that something was up. Carson Soucy Jersey There was a lot of attention focused on a po sible foot/lower-body injury, but Crosby’s most obvious problem was a lack of (relative) power behind his shot.Through all of that, though, he maintained that he was fine, including during the team’s breakup day, which came after a 3-1 collapse to the New York Rangers that cost coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero their jobs.As far as his injury was concerned, Crosby had limited Joe Sakic Jersey options.Actuallydisclosing it while the Penguins were playing games wasn’t one of them. Could he have taledat his locker after the Rangers’ win aboutthewrist problem he’dhoped would heal on Neal Broten Jersey its own? Sure. That’d have seemed like excuse-making, though and only doubly so if rehab had actually worked. You’d have seen a lot of variations on, If he didn’t need surgery, how bad could it have been? And would it have benefited Bylsma and Shero to have Crosby’s injury exist, in some form or another, as public knowledge? Sure. A healthy Crosby probably means the Penguinsadvanceto the Eastern Conference finals, then take on the Montreal Canadiens for the right to get slaughtered by the Los Angeles Kings.That wouldn’t have fixed Pittsburgh’sbiggest problem, though . The Penguins’ ownership, to be clear, knew about Crosby’s injury Mathew Barzal Jersey and could’ve treated it as a mitigating factor for Bylsma and Shero’s fates. They did not.So yes, Crosby could’ve said something. Whether it actually would’ve helped in the long runisn’t all that clear.