Losing Nick Bjugstad for four weeks with a broken hand was bad enough.
Now losing Jonathan Huberdeau for 3-4 months is the kind of punch in the gut that will result in mixing and matching the entire roster until he returns.
The good news is it could have been a lot worse. A lacerated achilles tendon is much better than severed. However, such a long absence from the top Florida point producer over the last two seasons might be the kind of absence that has this team climbing the playoff mountain in the spring instead of standing at the top of it.
Many lesser options have to be mulled over. One has Jonathan Marchessault moving from the third to first line. Another rumor is moving Jussi Jokinen up, breaking up his prolific line with Vincent Trocheck and Riley Smith. Perhaps it will be a committee approach until head coach Gerard Gallant finds lightning in a bottle from someone unexpected.
No matter the hard decisions forthcoming, losing Huberdeau is the kind of adversity few teams are dealing with right now. Before last year the Panthers were all too familiar with slow starts and trying to make a playoff push in March. This kind of injury could make it that kind of year again.
All of Huberdeau's hard work during the offseason adding 10 pounds of muscle will now have to wait to be on full display. The nature of his injury will also set him back in terms of conditioning and lower body strength. So while he is three to four months away from returning, he is likely four to five months from being himself. Five months from today is March 11th and there will be 16 games left in the regular season.
The Panthers will need to dig deep organizationally to hold the fort until Huberdeau returns. That also doesn't factor the inevitable injuries to other players that will be coming to further test this team.
So yes, it could be worse. But for a team that was looking to build on their most successful year in franchise history, this looks to be a very challenging first half of the season.
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