Things continue to get worse for the Chicago Blackhawks this season. Adding Seth Jones to the injured reserve list this weekend was not great news to go along with the current ineptitude of the offense and the continued falling short of expectations this season. Now we know, we think, a timeline for Jones to return from his right foot injury.

Following Blackhawks practice on Wednesday, head coach Luke Richardson said the expectation is for Jones to miss about four weeks. Jones was placed on injured reserve on November 16, retroactive to November 14, and currently looks like a “maybe” to be ready to play by the Winter Classic.

Fans can be justifiably weary about the four-week timeline of Jones to be out of the lineup since Richardson also said the same of Laurent Brossoit needing about four weeks to recover from his hip injury prior to the beginning of October. Brossoit still has yet to practice with any regularity.

Hopefully the four-week timeline rings true for Jones because the Blackhawks will miss his minutes on the blue-line. In 27 games without Seth Jones in the lineup for the Blackhawks since he joined the team, they have a 5-19-3 record and have been out-scored in those games 103-50. Connor Murphy (25:03) and Alex Vlasic (23:33) were the top pair and minutes-getters on Saturday night against Vancouver and Vlasic led the team with 26:34 minutes on Tuesday night against Anaheim.

This season, Jones has been leading the team in ice-time per game with 25:43 minutes a night and is third on the team in points with two goals and ten points in 17 games this season.