Stephen-Weiss-12-10-13.jpg

Red Wings forward Stephen Weiss, in what would be his final game of the season on Dec. 10, collides with Florida's Marcel Goc.

(AP file photo)

DETROIT – Stephen Weiss was hurting from the start of the season and knows he shouldn’t have tried to play through what was later diagnosed as a sports hernia.

But after signing a five-year, $24.5 million free-agent contract with the Detroit Red Wings he felt pressure to make an immediate impact.

Instead, he struggled from the start and spent most of what would be a disastrous season on injured reserve.

“Coming down for the first game of the year and thinking, ‘How are you going to get through the game?’ is probably not the right way to start,” Weiss said. “I’ve been around a bit and should be a little bit smarter and should have spoken up earlier and maybe some of this could have been avoided.

“But sometimes that’s not my style. I’ll tend to do that and it got me in some trouble this year. Huge disappointment, but in saying that it kind of fuels the fire for this summer and next year.”

Weiss, 31, is confident he’ll be 100 percent healthy by training camp in September. The Red Wings are counting on it. They have a lot invested in the player they expected to fill their second-line center spot.

“It’s been a big disappointment, but I don’t know how much I’d change other than being a little smarter in the summer and maybe a little smarter at the start of the season, not trying to play through these types of things as much as I did,” Weiss said. “Even though it was my first year and I wanted to do things the right way, maybe taking a little time off at the start of the season would have done me better than pushing through and trying to be a little bit of a hero that way. So I got myself into some trouble that could have been avoided by being a little bit smarter.”

Weiss had sports hernia surgery on Dec. 23. He was expected to return at the end of February, following the Olympic break, but experienced multiple setbacks and didn't come back.

He underwent a second procedure on April 21 to release scar tissue.

“(The doctor) did that and to reinforce some other things,” Weiss said. “So I got that out of the way now and hopefully that’s the end of it.”

Weiss was told he could get back on the ice about six weeks after the procedure. For now, he’s going through the rehab process again.

“Feels pretty good right now,” Weiss said. “Just a matter of letting it heal properly and make sure that you do your rehab properly and get all of those muscles in there strong again and get ready to take the beating of training and getting back into camp.”

He’ll head home to Toronto soon and work out with former NHL player Gary Roberts and others.

“I’m confident we did the right things all the way through as much as we knew what was wrong and tried to go about it the right way,” Weiss said. “Just never really recovered properly. So I’m going to work hard this summer like I did last summer. Just be a little smarter.”

Weiss had two goals, two assists and a minus-4 rating in 26 games. He didn’t play after Dec. 10.

“He needs a great summer,” general manager Ken Holland said. “He’s basically played half a year the last two years. It’s hard to know where he’s going to be in September.

“Is he going to be healthy? Was that small surgery that was performed last week the answer to what ails him? Is he able to have a June, July and August where he’s able to hit the gym and come to camp healthy, fit and ready to go? Or are we going to wake up in early June and he’s where he was a month ago and we’re going to continue to be looking for answers as to why he isn’t getting healthy?

“I don’t have an answer for you. I thought he’d be healthy six weeks ago. So for me to stand here and say he’s going to be healthy in a month, he’s going to have a great summer, he’s going to have a great year, I don’t know that. We need him to get healthy before anything positive can happen.”