Brad Marchand's lower-body injury isn't season-ending. That's the good news for the Florida Panthers, and it may be the only good news this week.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN reported Thursday that early indications point to "weeks, not months" for the 38-year-old forward, who got hurt Tuesday in Los Angeles.
He had an MRI this morning. The results haven't been made public, so that timeline still comes with an asterisk.
Tuesday's stop in Los Angeles ended with a 2-1 win over the Kings. It was the Panthers' first regulation win of the season, and it came with a price.
The Panthers opened with four straight road games and came back 2-0-2. Six points from that stretch is a respectable October start.
Marchand dressed for only two of those games and scored once. Now his $5,250,000 cap hit buys the Panthers a spectator for the next while.
Rushing him back from a lower-body injury at 38 would be a bad idea. The Panthers need him in the spring, not for a Tuesday night in Columbus.
Without Aleksander Barkov, Paul Maurice is running short on answers
This would sting less if Aleksander Barkov were around. He's out with a lower-body injury and isn't expected back until at least Nov. 27.
Barkov dressed twice and was held scoreless. So Maurice now has to cover for two veteran forwards at the same time, with the season only four games old.
It's like a restaurant losing its head chef and its sharpest line cook in the same week. The menu doesn't change, but the food coming out of the kitchen does.
So who picks up the slack? Matthew Tkachuk has two goals, including a game-winner, but the rest of the top end has been quiet.
Sam Reinhart has been held scoreless through four games. Brady Tkachuk hasn't found the scoresheet either, and he's sitting at a -2 rating.
The offense has come from odd corners. Lars Eller has three assists, and Eetu Luostarinen has two goals, one of them on the power play.
That's a thin formula for a group averaging 2.0 goals per game. Jacob Markstrom has kept the lid on with a .927 save percentage and a shutout already.
And the blue line isn't fully settled either. Aaron Ekblad is listed day-to-day for personal reasons.
Saturday brings the first home game of the season against the Wild. Minnesota arrives at 2-0-1 with a +4 goal differential.
Then comes a back-to-back in Buffalo and Columbus on Monday and Tuesday. Vancouver and Seattle follow at home later in the week.
If LeBrun's early read holds, Marchand misses at least some of that stretch. How much of it, and how many points the Panthers bleed without him, is the part nobody can answer yet.
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Should the Panthers hold Brad Marchand out until Aleksander Barkov is ready to return?
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