The Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said Monday he doesn't plan on making a trade to help fill the void left by defenceman Justin Schultz.

Schultz, 28, is expected to miss the next four months after undergoing surgery on a broken leg. He averaged 17 minutes of ice time in each of the Penguins' first three games before suffering the injury Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

“We’ll deal with it from within,” Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It won’t be any different than anything else.”

The Penguins began the season with eight defencemen on their roster and will move forward with Brian Dumoulin, Kris Letang, Jack Johnson, Olli Maatta, Jamie Oleksiak, Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel. The Post-Gazette reports Ruhwedel, who is yet to dress this season, will continue to be a healthy scratch while Oleksiak will draw back into the lineup after sitting on Saturday.

“If our team doesn’t play as well as we’d like, then we have to consider other options,” Rutherford said. “At this point in time, we have guys who certainly deserve that opportunity [to replace Schultz].”

Rutherford noted that the Penguins are used to overcoming injuries and must do so again in Schultz's case. His timeline puts him on track for a return close to the trade deadline.

“We’re used to dealing with injuries,” Rutherford said. “This one’s a little harder to take because it’s a lot longer to heal and he’s an important player on our team. It is what it is. We have to deal with it.”

Letang leads the Penguins in ice time, averaging of 26:35 per game.