Dustin Byfuglien will miss the next two to four weeks with an apparent upper-body injury.

Head coach Paul Maurice made the announcement Friday afternoon.

Byfuglien suffered the injury during Wednesday night's game against the Ottawa Senators when he was battling with Sens forward Erik Condra for the puck. Byfuglien left the game and did not return.

The 29-year-old defenceman/forward has 15 goals and 27 helpers over 65 games this season with the Jets.

"He is a big hole to fill. Literally and figuratively," said teammate Blake Wheeler. "He's probably the most versatile player in NHL. He can go from top D pairing to top line" 

Bryan Little, who is also suffering through an upper-body injury, will travel with the team on their four-game road trip, but will not play the first half of it. Andrew Ladd missed practice for a maintenance day.

"We've got comfortable that he [Little] and Andrew are in our lineup all the time and that becomes a bigger problem in terms of what it does, what you look like up front and who fills that home and your options at centre ice," said Maurice Friday.

The Jets play in Nashville Saturday, Tuesday in St. Louis, Thursday in Florida and next Saturday in Tampa to close out the trip.

Defenceman Mark Stuart took a puck to the face in practice Friday and will get checked out by doctors before he is cleared to play. Forward Eric O'Dell was recalled from the AHL to help fill the void.

Winnipeg currently sits in the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, going into Friday night's action.