As if things could not get any worse after Wednesday night’s humiliating 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, Jake Guentzel went into the locker room midway through the third period.

He did not record a shift in the final 12 minutes of the game, after appearing to be injured on an awkward hit into the boards near the bench by Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk.

Unfortunately, things look even worse than we originally thought. Guentzel will be out of the lineup for the Penguins for up to four weeks. The team projects him to return to the Penguins in early March.

With Guentzel adding an injury list that has also recently welcomed Noel Acciari, the Penguins have re-called three forwards from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Jonathan Gruden, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Valtteri Puustinen are all now up with the team. All three players have previously played in the NHL this season for the Penguins.

With Guentzel out for considerable time, the reeling Penguins are now without their most reliable goal scorer not named Sidney Crosby. Guentzel is second on the team in goals (22), and is tied for the team lead in both assists (30) and points (52).

Guentzel has been one of the very few consistently productive Penguins this season. His work has kept the team in a lot of games they probably didn’t deserve to be in.

His absence creates a large void in the Penguins top six, which has been carried entirely by the first line. Now with Guentzel out, the Penguins will be forced to workshop lines. Perhaps Rickard Rakell finds his way back to the top line?

It also significantly hurts their ability to potentially trade him at the deadline, should they be as far out of a wild card spot as they are now by March 8th. If he needs all four weeks to recover, that takes him past the deadline, which then further complicates his future with the organization. Teams will be hesitant offer expensive packages for a guy who is now out with an injury.

Even if Guentzel does return to the ice before the deadline, teams may still be hesitant. At the very least, they may offer Pittsburgh less than the return they have reportedly desired should they move the forward.

All in all, this was the worst possible case for the Pittsburgh Penguins. It puts their fleeting playoff chances out of reach even further, and also potentially takes away their best trade chip at the deadline, one that could net them a lot of assets for both now and the future. Of course, that’s assuming he is out all four weeks.

It’s possible that we have already seen Jake Guentzel’s last game as a Penguin.

I leave us with the words of Michael Scott. It’s over. We are screwed. The Pittsburgh Penguins season is being shut down.

(Featured photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)