The Wings’ injury list continues to grow.
The latest to be sidelined for a significant amount of time is goalie Chris Osgood, who will have surgery on Tuesday to repair a sports hernia.
It’s being called a “significant” tear in his groin by general manager Ken Holland.
Osgood will be sidelined 6-8 weeks.
“If you look at our schedule over the next 4-5 weeks, we’ve done the hardest part,” Holland said. “We have lots of games spread out, easy travel. We can play Jimmy (Howard) a lot. And we’ll play Joey MacDonald in the games Ozzie was supposed to play.”
MacDonald was recalled from Grand Rapids on Monday.
Holland added that the team would not make a move to get a backup goalie through trade or waivers.
Osgood has had groin issues the last couple months.
The surgery will be performed by Dr. William Meyers, who also repaired the same injury to Kris Draper earlier this season. Draper missed six weeks.
Osgood was slated to start in last Saturday’s game against Vancouver, but ended up dressing as the backup after experiencing a lot of pain during the morning skate.
He flew back to Detroit on Sunday and met with Dr. Meyers in Philadelphia today.
Osgood, who recently became just the 10th goalie in NHL history to reach the 400-win plateau, joins Brad Stuart (jaw) and Mike Modano (severed wrist tendon) as players that won’t return to the lineup until early March.
“Hopefully, the three of them will be back in time to give us a boost the last 20 games of the season,” Holland said.
Pavel Datsyuk (hand) and Danny Cleary (ankle) are expected to return to before or right after the All-Star break.
The Wings could go over the salary cap because of these long-term injuries, but Holland doesn’t expect to because of the problem it will create when everyone is healthy.
“When everyone is healthy we’re about $500,000 to $700,000 under the cap,” Holland said. “We’re in no position to start picking up contracts and then have to get rid of guys when everyone gets back.”
Red Wings Front 