March Madness is thought of as a glorious time in sports, and it is, but it’s also a little, well, maddening. The other sports are forgotten, like hockey and the beloved Chicago Blackhawks.

Hockey is Chicago’s new favorite sport and the Blackhawks is the city’s favorite team. Two Stanley Cups in four seasons will tend to boost popularity.

The Blackhawks are not on everybody’s radar at the moment, however.

Star right-winger Patrick Kane was injured in the team’s shutout win over the central division leading and division rival, St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night. His injury comes at a time when there are 12 games left in the regular season for a team that currently sits second in the division and fourth in the conference.

The Blackhawks will no doubt make the playoffs, barring an unspeakable late season collapse. The team wants all the momentum to do what has not been done in the salary cap era: repeat as Stanley Cup champions. 

Unlike last season’s strike-shortened and awe-inspiring campaign, injuries have hit the team. Bryan Bickell and Corey Crawford have missed multiple games. Marián Hossa just returned after missing five games. Brandon Saad is still out with his own upper body injury as well.

Kane’s lower body injury will reportedly keep him out at least three weeks. The team will not only miss his excellent abilities, but his versatility. Head coach Joel Quenneville can pair Kane with anyone and he will still produce.

While Kane is out, 19-year-old Teuvo Teravainen figures to see some playing time. He is considered the organization’s top prospect.

Quenneville is also faced with another challenge of deciding when Kane should return, and how much he should play. Quenneville should not risk Kane returning in the regular season.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are filled with some of the most grueling games in all of sports. While there will be fears of Kane being rusty when he returns for the start of the playoffs, that fear is minuscule compared with the thought of Kane aggravating the injury should he come back too early. But the team will have a target on its back come April. It will need all the healthy bodies possible, and a rusty Kane is still better than no Kane.

It’s not necessarily time to panic, it might be best to get an idea of where the panic button is stored.

Erik is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @e_prada.