Detroit Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg addressed the media today for the first time since his back surgery little more than a month ago. Chuck Pleiness of the Macomb Daily has some videos of the media scrum where Zetterberg talks about his rehab and the battle to get into the playoffs.
Well, that’s the goal. I want to play hockey again this year, and obviously that’ll be sometime around the playoffs.Despite what some of us may have been hoping for, the timeline for Z’s return hasn’t changed. Given the Red Wings’ current position in the standings, we may or may not see Zetterberg again this season. Have another Zetterberg quote before I sob at the potential possibilities.
The rehab goes as planned, and I’ve been moving around a lot more the past two weeks. Just gotta take it step by step, and so far no hiccupsAs for the actual timeline of recovery, he seems to be on schedule, and progress of any kind is good to see. There’s no telling when he’ll be back on skates, but if this tweet from Dana Wakiji is any indication, he’ll hopefully be cleared for contact around 8 weeks post-surgery.
But i think also the guys who came up from GR and the additions that we’ve had have played really well. if it wasn’t for all the injuries we’ve had this year, we haven’t seen all those guys in our system. Just gotta get through this, get into the playoffs, and then we’ll have some fun.Zetterberg also had glowing things to say about the guys currently in the lineup battling for a playoff spot. I can tell you one thing: spring won’t be a very fun time if the Red Wings aren’t in the playoffs. But it also won’t be fun for everyone else since they’ll all be deprived of this bearded goodness.
For more Zetterberg quotes from the scrum, Dana Wakiji tweeted out tons of them.
Z, come back! We love you!! We need you!!!
UPDATE (2:50pm ET)
The Red Wings have put up video of the entire scrum on Youtube. Good luck paying attention to anything he says if you end up staring at the man’s face or beard.
