Blackhawks' Anisimov has surgery on his right wrist

Artem Anisimov underwent successful surgery to repair an injury to the center's right wrist Tuesday, Blackhawks officials announced.

Anisimov's agent, Todd Diamond, said the surgery was needed to repair a tendon in the wrist that was affecting his play for more than half the season.

"I would call it more on the minor side of surgery," said Diamond, who added that the tendon wasn't torn and it was more a result of wear and tear. "It was giving him pain and discomfort. So it was affecting his shot and his faceoffs."

The 27-year-old Russian had 15 goals and 7 assists in the first 40 games of the season. He played in 37 of the final 42 games, and had 5 goals with 15 assists. He had 3 goals and no assists in seven playoff games.

Anisimov won a career-worst 44.2 percent of his faceoffs.

Some might wonder why surgery wasn't done months ago to relieve the problem, but Diamond said the team wanted to manage it "as best as possible to get through the season. … "It would flare up on occasion and really bother him. Then it could be treated and be more tolerable. So the decision was made to postpone it."

The Blackhawks said Anisimov will be able to return to hockey-related activities in 6-8 weeks.