Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry out long term.

The Detroit Red Wings will have to continue playing without the services of veteran defenseman Jeff Petry for the foreseeable future.

On Sunday night, National Hockey League insider Frank Seravalli revealed that, after already missing a month of action, Petry has gone under the knife for corrective surgery. The Red Wings have not disclosed the nature of Petry's injury but according to Seravalli he will now miss the next six to eight weeks while recovering from the surgery.

Petry was a fixture of the Red Wings blue line for much of the season prior to being injured, appearing in 35 games and recording 1 goal and 5 assists for 6 points over that stretch. That being said the Red Wings have already been forced to adapt to play without Petry who hasn't been in the lineup since his last game all the way back on the 2nd of January against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This timeline will likely keep Petry out until the very end of the NHL's regular season and it will be interesting to see how the Red Wings respond to this development with Petry's cap hit of $6.25 million on long term injured reserve. The cap room could give the Red Wings some additional flexibility ahead of the trade deadline, especially if they don't expect Petry to return before the Stanley Cup playoffs.