Jets D Jacob Trouba out 6-8 weeks with high ankle sprain

"A key piece, right? It’s not just losing the player, he’s also playing right at his peak," Maurice told reporters, adding that there is at least one bright spot: "If we have an area of depth — and we do — it’s right defense. So that’s the one place if we have a guy go down, that we have players there who want the minutes, that can handle the minutes."

The Jets (29-13-8) are in first place in the Central Division, a point ahead of the Predators, and face the Atlantic-leading Lightning (34-12-3) to open a 10-game homestand coming out of the All-Star break.

According to the Free Press, Tyler Myers is first in line to take Trouba’s right defense spot on the No. 1 pairing with Josh Morrissey that will see opponents' top lines. Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom also can be expected to take on bigger roles in the No. 2 pairing, and the third pairing, for now, appears to be Ben Chiarot and rookie Tucker Poolman.

"Obviously (Trouba) is a big loss," Myers said Monday. "We’ve dealt with injuries the past month here. For us as a group, it’s just focusing on the same thing we have."

Before Trouba, 23, suffered the high ankle sprain in a pileup along the boards in OT at Anaheim, the Jets already were missing defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who normally plays with Myers in the third pairing. Maurice hasn’t confirmed that Kulikov suffered a concussion last Tuesday in San Jose, but he remains listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. He skated on his own Monday.