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You know all those questions about whether Edmonton Oilers defenceman Andrej Sekera would be able to bounce back from his knee problems which short-circuited last season?

Forget about that.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Oilers defenceman Andrej Sekera out indefinitely after surgery on torn Achilles Back to video

The dark cloud hanging over Sekera’s head just got a whole lot bigger with the news that the 32-year-old tore his Achilles tendon while training in Slovakia and had surgery in Edmonton on Tuesday, which will put him out of the Oilers’ indefinitely.

It’s often a four- to six-month recovery time for that sort of injury, with athletes having their leg in a cast for six to 12 weeks after surgery.

The four-to-six months on the shelf is an arbitrary number, though. Ten years ago, Justin Williams tore his Achilles sprinting in mid-September in Carolina and was out only until early December.

It depends on the severity of the tear.

“We’ll have to see how Sekera comes along, but at some point, we’re going to have to look at replacing him,” said Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli.