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Ron Hextall on Wednesday evening stated the obvious in that Sidney Crosby having wrist surgery would have been much more ideal if it was done a month or two ago.

“Obviously, we all hoped we didn’t have to go this way,” Penguins general manager Ron Hextall said. “In the end, we did everything we could to avoid this, but it was the best way to proceed. I think the focus was having Sid back at 100%, or as close to 100% as possible. This was the proper avenue to go…..I think if we all, including Sid, had known this a month or two months ago, it would have been great. But we are where we are, and I think on the positive side, we have four weeks before we play a regular-season game.””

While the Penguins were kept in the loop all summer as they always are from To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Crosby has been seeing his own team of specialists for years now [hide] and the recommendation for surgery came after an appointment last week with a specialist set up by Crosby’s representation CAA Sports. The Penguins, according to a source, learned on Thursday of last week that Crosby would be having the surgery.

That saw the Penguins move forward in finalizing a PTO for Brian Boyle, but will the Crosby injury bring a sense of urgency to bring in more competition?

One name out there is 35 year old Tyler Bozak, who totaled 5 goals and 12 assists in 31 games for the Blues last season.

He’s a player Team President Brian Burke is fond of and has brought up in scouting meetings this summer, team sources say, and a league source confirms there was a conversation between the Penguins and Bozak’s agent Wade Arnott of Newport Sports before the Penguins signed Boyle (PTO) and prior to knowing Crosby needed surgery. The Bozak camp, though, indicated they would not consider a PTO.

Despite the Penguins belief that Crosby won’t miss much time and Evgeni Malkin could return before Thanksgiving, there are rumblings in the last 24 hours that the Penguins have or will circle back to the Bozak camp, but sounds like it would take a one year contract not a PTO to lure Bozak to Pittsburgh.

One avenue the Penguins have operated on all summer with is that LTIR will not be a viable option to them. Crosby will be back way too early to use and the team for now doesn’t believe Malkin will miss enough time to utilize LTIR in a way that benefits them.

We can’t add a big-dollar player here, because they’re [Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin] both going to be back,” Hextall said.”

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