Nick Bjugstad tore his left pectoral muscle in training this month, and the Devils will be without him for four to six months after surgery.
The timing is brutal. He went down before camp even opened and had the procedure already.
Do the math from mid September. Four months lands in January. Six puts him past the trade deadline.
What New Jersey loses on the ice is modest. Nine points across 61 games last season, with six of them goals.
He also finished at minus-11. Those are fourth line numbers from a fourth line player, and nobody is pretending otherwise.
So no, this does not wreck the lineup. The Devils were not building anything around a 34 year old on a $1.75 million deal.
It might wreck his year though. At that age, four to six months off is the kind of gap careers do not always come back from.
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Devils lose Nick Bjugstad for months after devastating preseason injury
Stefan Noesen is on injured reserve with a knee issue and is not expected back until at least October 15. That is two bottom six forwards gone before a puck drops.
Arseny Gritsyuk and Evan Rodrigues are both listed day to day and questionable for the opener. Luke Hughes carries the same tag on the blue line.
Count it up and the depth chart gets thin quickly. Four forwards and a defenceman with question marks attached in the third week of September.
What is left underneath is unproven. Lenni Hameenaho got 33 games at 21 and Shane Lachance dressed exactly once.
Cody Glass is the one who has to absorb the minutes. Nineteen goals in 70 games is useful, though 26 points total tells you where the ceiling sits.
The top of the roster is fine, which is the frustrating part. Jack Hughes put up 77 points in only 61 games.
Anthony Mantha remains the bargain of that group. Thirty three goals on a $2.5 million cap hit is how you paper over a thin bottom six.
None of it saved last season. New Jersey finished 42-37-3, ranked 21st overall, and closed the year with a 4-0 loss in Boston.
Tom Fitzgerald spent this week adding Bryan McCabe and Jessica Campbell to the front office. Neither of them can dress on Sunday.
So how many bodies does a 21st place team get to lose before September turns into a problem?
Losing a fourth line centre in camp is like blowing a tire on the spare. Nobody notices until the next flat.
The Islanders come in Sunday for the preseason opener. Somebody in that lineup is about to find out how fast an opportunity arrives in this league.
Does losing Nick Bjugstad for up to six months actually hurt the Devils?
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