Following an uninspiring 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers on Saturday, Ottawa Senators fans were hoping for an inspiring bounce-back performance in the team's home opener on Monday afternoon.

Instead, they left doubly disappointed.

Not only did the Senators ultimately drop a closely contested game to the Nashville Predators, captain Brady Tkachuk spent the last nine minutes and four seconds of the third period fastened to the Senators' bench.

The rugged power forward was felled five minutes into the first period with the Senators on the power play. As an inadvertent pass from Dylan Cozens went behind the Nashville goal, left defenceman Adam Wilsby went back to retrieve it. With Tkachuk stationed in front of the Nashville net, he veered past Juuse Saros' right post to apply pressure on Wilsby. As he was about to get there, Predators captain Roman Josi uncharacteristically cross-checked Tkachuk from behind. He sent Tkachuk headfirst into the endboards, where he put up both hands to brace himself for contact.

Tkachuk immediately sprang back to his feet and attempted to engage Josi after the play was blown dead. As Predators forward Cole Smith grabbed Tkachuk from behind to create some separation, Tkachuk dropped his right glove and began shaking his right hand.

Tkachuk would go on to take 20 more shifts after the cross-check, but with his team down one goal in the waning minutes of the game, he remained on the Senators bench but was unavailable to play.

Before the Senators flew out this afternoon to Buffalo for Wednesday night's game against the Sabres, the team held an optional skate at the Canadian Tire Centre. There, head coach Travis Green spoke with the media and addressed the Tkachuk injury.

"He is going to be out for a significant amount of time," Green acknowledged. "We will know a little more in the next 24 hours. It will be four weeks or four-plus; we don't know exactly. It could be a little more than that. He'll recover and he'll be back.

"It's unfortunate. You never want to lose a player or lose a player of his stature, but that's part of the game. So, we're not going to sit and dwell on it. Much like anyone else who gets hurt, you move on quickly. Brady will be around our team and be the captain he is, but he won't be playing."

The head coach acknowledged that the injury affected his right hand/wrist area and was a consequence of the Josi cross-checking incident. He also indicated that more testing is required to determine whether surgery is needed.

The magnitude of Tkachuk's absence cannot be understated. He is the leader and heartbeat of this group, and he's a unicorn on the ice. No one in the league blends physicality and skill as well as he does. His unique skill set makes him the preeminent power forward in the league.

Without him, the Senators will try to adapt and embrace the next-man-up mindset.

For a group whose quality of depth has been lauded, Tkachuk's absence will create an opportunity to prove it. One addition that can help mitigate the loss of the captain is Senators forward Drake Batherson.

The right winger told reporters this morning that he will return to the lineup Wednesday night.

Batherson missed the first three games of the regular season after sustaining an undisclosed upper-body injury from a fall during an on-ice session in training camp.

If the Senators want to avoid any significant disruption to their current lines, they could insert Batherson on Tim Stützle's right side and then slide Fabian Zetterlund over to his natural side. This solution would keep the rest of the lines intact.

The alternative option would bring an element of familiarity, though. If the Senators elect to move Claude Giroux to the first line, put Batherson on the second line alongside Dylan Cozens and then have Michael Amadio on the third line, which are the roles that this trio of wingers occupied last season.

For what it is worth, Batherson does have experience playing with Tim Stützle when Brady Tkachuk was not the left winger on that line.

In 235 games across the last three seasons, according to Natural Stat Trick, Batherson and Stützle have played together without Brady for almost 625 minutes of five-on-five hockey. In those minutes, the Senators generated 54.56 percent of the shots (CF%), 52.08 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), 49.15 percent of the total goals (GF%), and 53.06 percent of the expected goals (xGF%).

Losing Brady for any length of time is devastating, especially when a prolonged losing streak or stretch of bad games could mean the difference between reaching the postseason or not. Conversely, from a glass-half-full perspective, the numbers I outlined above are encouraging, considering the previous iterations of the Senators are not as talented as this year's group.

The presence of Ridly Greig, David Perron and Zetterlund on the left side in the top nine is not the worst-case scenario. Obviously, the onus will be on them to create and produce offence - especially with Zetterlund, who has created shot volume without much production since being acquired from San Jose. 

More Sens Headlines at The Hockey News Ottawa Senators Site:
Tkachuk Injured As Senators Drop Home Opener To Nashville
Another Tough Break For Former Senator Josh Norris
Senators Injuries: Kleven And Batherson Provide Health Updates
Yakemchuk Reflects On Playing First Pro Game Saturday
Senators Mauled By Florida 6-2, Penalty Killing Struggles Continue
Jordan Spence: A Healthy Scratch For Sens Season Opener