Zetterberg to miss 2-3 weeks with back injury

The Red Wings will be without superstar forward Henrik Zetterberg two to three weeks while he recovers from an inflamed disk, general manager Ken Holland said Wednesday.

Zetterberg suffered back spasms during Monday’s practice and did not make the trip to Chicago for Tuesday’s game. An initial MRI revealed nothing, but a second one Wednesday showed some damage.

“It’s similar to a herniation,” Holland said. “It’s nothing significant, but the doctors feel he should take seven to 10 days of rest, and the hope is the inflammation goes down. Then we’re slowly going to bring him back. We estimate he’ll be out of the lineup two to three weeks.”

The Wings sent Matt Hussey back to Grand Rapids on Wednesday, but will recall him in time for Friday’s game against the Blackhawks.

Mikael Samuelsson, out since Jan. 20 with a broken right foot, is scheduled to see doctors Thursday. Holland estimated Samuelsson would need one to two weeks before he's ready to return.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070228/SPORTS05/70228056/1053

Damn you Bertuzzi. You're back problems are spreading already.

I'm liking the momentum though. We are still playing well and can look forward to three quality players rejoining the team. If we are still in first when Zetterberg comes back, that's going to scare the crap out of the other teams. Nobody likes to see the best get even better......except when your team is the best.

While it sucks that Zetterberg is injured, I am kinda glad because it gives more ice time for Hudler and Filippula. We are going to need one of those guys to step up and not just for the rest of the season but for the playoffs too.

Better now than in a month. Get Hank some rest now, get him prepared for the playoffs.

It will be nice in 2-3 weeks when we have Hank, Bertuzzi, Sameulsson and Cleary back. They had some scary lines drawn up on the game the other night with guys like Hudler and Fillpula battling to get on the ice against Franzen, etc. We are going to be real deep with all these guys back.