WINNIPEG -- Defenseman Jacob Trouba, out 6-8 weeks because of a lower-body injury, is the latest serious subtraction to the Winnipeg Jets lineup.
Trouba reportedly has a high-ankle sprain, which happened late in overtime of a 4-3 loss at the Anaheim Ducks last Thursday.
How many injuries to top-end players can the Jets, who are also without defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) take and maintain the level of play that has them in first place (29-13-8) in the Central Division coming out of the All-Star break?
"I guess we'll find out," defenseman Tyler Myers said Monday. "It's tough to say. We haven't seen a decline yet with the guys who have been out so far. [Trouba] is a big loss on the back end. and so is Dmitry. We're just going to have to step up and try to play a really simple game."
The loss of Trouba adds to Winnipeg's substantial injury list that includes:
-- Center Mark Scheifele, who sustained an upper-body injury Dec. 27. He has missed 12 games and was expected to need 6-8 weeks to recover.
-- Kulikov, out since Jan. 23.
-- Goalie Steve Mason is out with his second concussion this season and has missed six games this time. He missed seven between Nov. 27 and Dec. 9.
-- Forward Shawn Matthias (upper body) has missed five games.
In addition, the Jets have dealt with several other serious injuries this season. Center Adam Lowry has been out since Jan. 5 because of an upper-body injury, but he's expected back against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, SUN, NHL.TV). Lowry also missed nine games Oct. 14 to Nov. 4 with an upper-body injury.
Defenseman Toby Enstrom missed 23 games between Nov. 20 and Jan. 5 with an upper-body injury, defenseman Dustin Byfuglien missed 10 between Dec. 11 and 31 with a lower-body injury, and forward Mathieu Perreault (lower body) missed 12 games between Oct. 17 and Nov. 4.
Jets coach Paul Maurice said the number is somewhere between five and seven players injured before he starts to worry about the quality of their overall game.
"We ran seven last year, guys out for a big bulk of time, and that was a challenge for us," Maurice said. "And it's by position as much as anything. You don't want to lose your top pair (defensemen) and you don't want to lose the middle of your ice (centers) or your No. 1 (goalie). Those are your five key pieces to the team.
"We survived the two centermen (Scheifele, Lowry) for a long stretch, and we think we're coming out of it now. And we found a real good one in Blake Wheeler, and Andrew Copp did a marvelous job. So we think we go back to strength down the middle with Adam in our lineup."
Maurice said Trouba had been playing at the peak of his game, but that the Jets still have strength on the right side of their defense with Myers and Byfuglien, who will be asked to do more.
"We've managed the number (of injured players) we've had pretty darn well, but there is a number, a threshold, between five and seven in my mind, where you start worrying," Maurice said.
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Jets have played the most road games in the League (29). With a home record of 17-3-1, they will start a string of 10 straight games at Bell MTS Place on Tuesday.
With Trouba and Kulikov out, the Jets' third pairing will be Ben Chiarot and Tucker Poolman. Myers, who has averaged 20:49 of ice time per game this season playing mostly with Kulikov, will likely see his time rise. Myers will take Trouba's place with Josh Morrissey on the top pairing.
Myers is healthy this season after missing all but 11 games with lower-body injuries last season, and said he's ready for more minutes; he averaged 24:38 per game in 2014-15, the season he was traded by the Buffalo Sabres to Winnipeg.
"We have so much depth on the back end, it's really become a committee effort," Myers said. "I started focusing a long time ago on just the things you can control and do that as hard as you can. We've had a lot of success the way things have gone this year, so I haven't had too much problem.
"Josh has really solidified himself as a really good defenseman already in this league. One thing that stands out with him is his skating; it's so good. For us, we'll just try to use each other as much we can, help each other out, especially coming out of the zone."
Morrissey said he believes depth will again carry Winnipeg through the storm.
"First, as a left-handed D on this team, you're pretty lucky with any partner you get," Morrissey said. "You want to have the full team healthy all the time of course, but reality in sports is that it just never happens. It's something we've had to deal with this year, guys out for extended periods. Any injury adjusts the lineup, but I think that's where the depth we have in our organization is really showing through.
"Guys have stepped into our lineup … we have these guys who can put up good minutes and really play hard. So yeah, it's been tough, but it's something you have to deal with and I think we've dealt with it pretty well."
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