There’s a lot of opportunity throughout a game of poker, but you’re bound to get your share of bad hands dealt to you. On Wednesday, the Red Wings were dealt a bad hand when Luke Glendening left their game against the Philadelphia Flyers after only 2:58 of ice time. On Friday, the team announced that Glendening would be out a minimum of four weeks.

Though the team hasn’t made an official announcement as to the nature of the injury, Glendening was seen with his right hand wrapped after the game in Philadelphia so it’s believed to be a fractured hand (hence the pun in the title).

The injury couldn’t come at a worse time for the 28-year-old grinder. In the first year of his 4-year, $7.2 million contract extension ($1.8m AAV), Glendening has been an invaluable defensive and offensive asset for the Red Wings on the ice.

Defensively, Glendening has been the key to the Red Wings 80.9% penalty kill as he leads all Red Wings forwards in shorthanded time on ice. He has the best shorthanded faceoff win percentage (55.07%) and the most amount of shorthanded blocked shots (12) on the team. Add two points to his shorthanded record and you’ve got a penalty killing machine.

At 5v5, Glendening has the fifth best on-ice shots-for percentage on the team (50.32%), despite a negative on-ice shot attempt percentage of 48.11%. Even that shot attempt percentage is pretty good considering Glendening starts 41.56% of his shifts in the defensive zone, which is more than any other player on the team. It’s also worth noting that these are career highs for Glendening.

Another important aspect of Glendening’s game are faceoffs. With a 59.37 faceoff win percentage, Glendening leads all Red Wings in draws. In fact, that is the third best faceoff percentage in the league among forwards who have taken more than 300 faceoffs. It’s also the best faceoff percentage of Glendening’s career so far (though he’s always been over 50% in that department).

Offensively, his seven goals and 10 points through the first 34 games of the season is the most he’s scored in this time frame in his career. He was on pace to record a career high in goals and points before getting injured.

He’s come a long way from being that rookie who played 51 games before scoring his first goal. This season, his first goal came only four games in. Back then, the fan base had a certain nickname for him that I won’t repeat here.

In addition to his offensive contributions this year, Glendening has found himself on one of the Wings most effective lines with Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm. At 5v5, the trio have a 54.21 shot attempt percentage, which is good for second on the team among lines that have played more than 50 minutes together. They get paired against other teams’ top lines and grind them out, putting up a team high 61.76 shots-for percentage. They’ve even drawn comparisons to the infamous Grind Line of the late-90s.

Glendening had really found his stride this year, which is what makes this injury and recovery timeline all the more painful. But there’s always a new hand to be dealt.

To fill the gap left by Glendening in the lineup, the Red Wings recalled Tyler Bertuzzi from the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Bertuzzi played in one other game for the Red Wings this year, a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, and failed to make an impact. He managed one shot on goal, one blocked shot, and a minus-3 rating. In his defense, it was a game riddled with penalties and Bertuzzi wasn’t playing the powerplay or the penalty kill.

This time, Bertuzzi should get an extended look with the length of time Glendening is expected to miss. He’s always been projected to be a bottom-6 NHL grinder and that’s exactly the role he’ll slide into. If he proves himself at 5v5, he may even get a chance to play the penalty kill.

At this point, it’s up to Bertuzzi whether or not he becomes a regular NHL-er. He’s certainly too good for the AHL and with a month’s worth of regular playing time ahead of him, this is his chance to prove that he can be the ace that the Wings desperately need to win this next hand.

All stats from NHL.com and Corsica.hockey.