It figures. Along comes the spring thaw, only to reveal a couple of major potholes on the Winnipeg Jets’ road to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Friday’s news that all-star defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, as feared, suffered a significant injury in the last game — he’ll miss at least two weeks, as many as four — was only half the story.

Head coach Paul Maurice said the Jets will also have to navigate the beginnings of this twisty trail without their top centre, Bryan Little.

Also hurt in Wednesday’s loss to Ottawa, Little boarded Friday’s charter flight to Nashville and the beginning of a four-game road trip, but there’s no guarantee he’ll do anything more than attend meetings and eat press-box popcorn.

“I don’t expect him for the front end of that, and it may be longer than this trip,” Maurice said. “There’s a chance he plays toward the end of it, and there’s a chance he doesn’t.”

As for Byfuglien’s game-count, he’ll miss between six and 12 of Winnipeg’s last 17, given Maurice’s two-to-four-week estimate.

Top defenceman down, top centre down — can this lead to anything other than a complete plane crash?

If it were just Byfuglien, that’d be one thing. The Jets have depth on the blue line, where fellow right-handed shooters Tyler Myers and Jacob Trouba can eat almost as many minutes as No. 33.

But Little? We’re about to find out just how underrated No. 18 is.

“We’ve been comfortable with he and Andrew (Ladd) just being in our lineup the whole time,” Maurice said. “And that becomes a bigger problem... what you look like up front, in terms of who fills that hole, your options at centre ice. There may be some movement on the lines to get what we like.”

You could say that.

Rookie Adam Lowry will take Little’s spot, if not his place.

Fourth-line centre Jim Slater will move up, and farmhand Eric O’Dell gets the call.

The team’s four healthy centres, Lowry, Slater, O’Dell and Mark Scheifele, have combined for 19 goals in the NHL this season.

Little has 24.

The Jets will have to replace that offence by a committee of 20.

As bleak as that sounds, the CEO would have no part of the gloom and doom, donning his rose-coloured glasses and pulling out some tried and true cliches for good meaure.

“You are the sum of your parts,” Maurice began. “So your parts maybe aren’t as talented as they were. But that doesn’t’ mean the sum can’t be as good. It’s an opportunity.

“I know that’s cliche. But in some ways you’ve got 23 small businesses in there. Somebody’s going to get a chance to play.”

That’s an interesting analogy. Based on annual revenue, it’s accurate.

No doubt they’ll try like the dickens to keep the cash registers humming.

But the Jets have lost brains and brawn at the very top of the food chain.

If Little specializes in strategic planning with a knack for closing the deal, Byfuglien is the chairman of the boards.

Opposing players were scared to face the Jets because No. 33 patrolled the blue line with a nasty streak as wide as Lake Minnetonka.

Without him, the intimidation factor shrinks exponentially.

“It’s huge,” goalie Michael Hutchinson said of the Byfuglien presence. “Players on other teams don’t want to come down, one-on-one... he kind of lulls them in to the point where they don’t think they’re going to get rubbed out too hard. And then he just brings it down on them.

“Every time he makes a big hit it really gets everyone going.”

Who’ll do that, now?

Adam Pardy, no small man in his own right, will dress in Byfuglien’s place, but he won’t come close to filling his skates.

The Jets on Friday became just another team in the race, without really anything to fear.

“We’ll miss him,” Maurice allowed. “He’s a force back there for sure. I wouldn’t want to get by him. But... we’ve got enough physicality with our game. It’s not defined by one player.”

I beg to differ.

The Jets new identity as the neighbourhood kid you don’t mess with was defined, and led, by Byfuglien.

He was virtually untouchable.

If this team is going to make the playoffs now, it’s going to have to do it the hard way.

There will be no backing in through a door opened by somebody else, no taking advantage of other teams’ injuries.

Just the challenge to overcome their own.