I put a question mark in the headline because I've yet to hear anything official regarding surgery come from anyone around the Pittsburgh camp. Plus I don't fancy the idea of spreading or making up rumors, but given the sources here I'd say it's legit. [Edit] OK, Max has said it himself according to the RDS link below...
I first have to give thanks to a reader for steering me in the direction of a radio Canada piece that hit the site this weekend. Seeing as how it's entirely in French, it's likely that not many of us would've had the chance to cite this link. However, our anonymous friend said the article made mention of Max Talbot undergoing shoulder surgery this offseason, surgery that may likely leave him out of the lineup for the first month of the season.
I asked a friend of mine who is fluent in French to find the exact sentence. So, here goes:
Talbot subira une opération à une épaule au cours des prochains jours et il devrait rater le premier mois de la saison.
Translation: Talbot will undergo a shoulder operation in the coming days and is expected to miss the first month of the season.
Radio Canada
(En Francais)
Are we to believe that Max Talbot scored both goals in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with a shoulder that required surgery? The legend grows.
Keep your eyes peeled for any official news coming out of Pitt this week, unless this was one of those things worth only of mention sometime earlier but not an entire article. Given the number of things to hit the wire after the Finals, I'd imagine something like this could slip past. Either way, hopefully whatever puts Talbot under the knife isn't too serious that it would hinder his play upon return.
Has this caught anyone's eye elsewhere?
[Edit 12:10am] Apparently Max mentioned surgery in his June 14 blog entry on RDS. There's a chance he put it off in order to participate in this past weekend's charity golf tourney. I guess if he's expected to miss at least a month of hockey, what's another two weeks of waiting at that point?
Premièrement, je vais devoir me faire opérer à une épaule dans deux semaines. J'ai mon tournoi de golf le 3 juillet et je vais aussi avoir une journée avec la coupe.
Translation: First, I'm going to have my shoulder operated on in two weeks. I have a golf tournament on July 3 and I will also have a day with the cup.