Detroit The race for the playoffs begins now for the Red Wings.

And theyll be short a player, or a few.

When the Red Wings reconvene today for their first post-Olympics practice, theyll do so without their Swedish players, who will be resting after playing in the gold medal game Sunday.

More importantly, the Red Wings will be without their captain, Henrik Zetterberg, who had back surgery last week.

Zetterberg likely will miss the remainder of the regular season, but could return in the playoffs if the Red Wings are in the playoffs.

Its going to be hard, Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar said. We knew it was going to be hard even with Z here, and now its going to be harder.

As much as Zetterbergs offense will be missed, his leadership and character will be difficult to replace.

His leadership in the locker room, in my opinion, will be an important loss, assistant Bill Peters said. Its a substantial loss, lets not kid ourselves. Its your captain, your leading scorer, a point-a-game player.

But now well get our heads wrapped around it and move on and find a way to play where we can be successful as a group.

With 24 games remaining, the Red Wings have a one-point lead on the Blue Jackets, Senators and Capitals, with the Hurricanes and Devils three back.

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Loss of Henrik Zetterberg throws another hurdle in front of Red Wings