Whitney OUT 3 - 5 Months!

Doubters have no more to complain about with Ryan Whitney - turns out, he was skating with a "bad foot" (it reminds me of Plaxico Burress' rookie season when everyone was disappointed with how he played and it turned out he was playing with a broken hand). I will admit, though, that I was one of those Whitney doubters!

The Pittsburgh Penguins confirmed on Friday that Whitney underwent surgery. Rob Rossi conducted an interview with Whitney on Thursday - a day prior to his surgery.

"I just couldn't live on one healthy foot anymore, let alone try to skate," Whitney said Thursday, on the eve of his surgery. "We've tried everything to avoid surgery because we knew it would mean missing a chunk of the season. But nothing worked."

He underwent surgery in Charlotte, NC to correct left-foot misalignment after several months of, first, working with the trainers then more conservative treatment methods - all of which did not help. He sought the help of three orthopedic specialists who ultimately recommended surgery after all other treatments were unsuccessful. Whitney began to notice there was a problem in the opening round of the playoffs when the Penguins played the Ottawa Senators and says that Brooks Orpik and Sidney Crosby were among those who knew what bad shape his foot was in.

"Obviously, had we known surgery was inevitable, we would have had it in June," Whitney said. "Ray was great about trying to treat this without surgery, but nothing we tried worked.

"It's frustrating. We went from being optimistic, I wouldn't miss any time, to maybe not coming back until January. But at least now I know when I come back this year, it will be the me that's coming back."

Ultimately, that will be the silver lining to this blow to the Penguins defense; however, they have enough depth to take care of business in Whitney's absence (and now Goligoski may have an even better chance to "step up" this coming season)! And it just makes you wonder if this was the reason Shero didn't want to deal / wanted to wait to deal Daryl Sydor (it's starting to all make sense now and it just goes to show that there are always "powers that be" that know more than we fans do so we should always keep the faith!)!