This much, we know: Sidney Crosby had surgery on his left wrist Wednesday, and isn't expected to play for at least six weeks.
And that's about it.
The Penguins did not reveal what sort of repair was made, or which non-surgical techniques were employed before the decision to operate was made. There was no word on how long it had been an issue (although he had surgery on the same wrist a year earlier, too) or precisely what sort of problems it might have caused.
Heck, we don't even know how the team would have characterized his injury if it had been acknowledged while he still was playing. Was it upper-body because it's part of an appendage that's attached to his shoulder, or lower-body because his hand hangs below his waist?
There are, however, a few things about his situation we can deduce.
Because Crosby is a left-handed shot, his left wrist likely absorbs more stress than the right when he is doing something like taking a faceoff.
And because he is ultra-competitive -- the guy would rather have a kidney removed with a rusty teaspoon than miss a game for any reason -- the fact that he agreed to an operation means it's safe to assume that the wrist issue was robbing him of significant strength and/or causing considerable pain.
Probably both.
Certainly, there is statistical evidence to support the idea that his wrist had become increasingly problematic at times last season.
There was, for example, a notable drop in the number of wrist shots he took in 2020-21, compared to the previous few seasons.
Official league statistics credited him with 75 of those in 55 games last season, compared to 109 in 41 a year earlier and 220 in 79 games in 2018-19.
Other factors can influence such stats, of course, so it's important to not put too much emphasis solely on that.
Which is why it's worth checking his performance on faceoffs.
Crosby handled a league-high 1,262 of them during the regular season, which he finished with a commendable success rate of 53.6 percent.
But his effectiveness waned at times in the latter stages of the season, including an uncharacteristically dismal 4-for-19 performance on draws during a 7-2 loss in Philadelphia May 3.
It was, however, during the Penguins' first-round loss to the New York Islanders that the most compelling evidence of a serious wrist problem surfaced.
After a solid showing in the series opener, when he went 16-12, Crosby had a losing record on draws in each of the five games that followed.
The Islanders were a good faceoff team last season, but not so good that they should have limited Crosby to controlling 38 of 100 draws over the final five games.
Not Crosby, who also managed just one goal and one assist in the series, when he's at anything close to full strength, anyway.
Of course, there's no way to precisely quantify the impact his wrist issue had on his personal stats, just as it's impossible to predict exactly how much he will benefit from this surgery.
It hardly was uplifting that Ron Hextall spoke of the Penguins' decision to have Crosby undergo the operation because they wanted to have him "back at 100 percent, or as close to 100 percent as possible."
Those words, taken at face value, suggest that management believes there is at least a possibility that Crosby's wrist will never be entirely right.
At the same time, a full recovery wasn't ruled out, and the simple truth is that even if the procedure he had simply reduces the pain or enhances the strength Crosby has in his wrist, he and the team should see a tangible payoff.
Although Crosby is 34 and presumably is in the latter stages of his prime -- assuming he hasn't exited it already -- the correlation between eliminating most, if not all, of the problems associated with a damaged wrist and increased productivity is hard to miss.
A stronger, less painful wrist should allow him to shoot with more velocity, which might lead to him doing it more often, as well, and it certainly should work to his advantage on faceoffs.
What's more, there's at least one part of his game that isn't necessarily reflected by a statistic, but reflects both his competitive nature and physical abilities: Crosby can maintain possession of the puck when challenged as well as anyone in the game, and fending off defenders and battling along the boards can't be easy with a damaged wrist.
If his surgery has the desired effect, opponents can expect relieving him of the puck to become even more difficult.
There's no question that the timing of his operation is less than optimal, especially when it's likely that the Penguins also will be missing Evgeni Malkin when they open the regular season Oct. 12 in Tampa, but the desire of all concerned to explore non-invasive ways to address his injury is understandable.
Those didn't work out, however, so the Penguins figure to be without Crosby for the early days -- if not weeks -- of the regular season.
While that's a serious setback in what figures to be furious fight for playoff berths in the Metropolitan Division -- points lost in October matter just as much as those a team fails to earn in March or April -- if the wrist repairs allow Crosby to elevate his game when he returns, the Penguins might decide that the tradeoff was worth it.
Crosby, you see, remains high on the very short list of the best two-way players in the NHL, and if the surgery allows him to ratchet his effectiveness up a notch or two, it could have a profound -- and positive -- impact on how the Penguins' season plays out.