The timing could hardly be worse.

Florida Panthers star Brad Marchand, also a stalwart for the Canadian national team, didn’t play the third period on Thursday night with some kind of injury.

The men’s hockey competition at the Olympics gets underway in about two weeks. And right now, Team Canada has to be holding its breath about Marchand’s status.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice didn’t have an update for reporters after the game.

All he could offer was that Marchand would be looked at “tonight and tomorrow.”

Clearly, the Panthers don’t want to lose Marchand, either, but the Olympic break would likely provide time for him to heal up as far as the NHL team is concerned.

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That is, if Marchand didn’t also want to get to Italy and skate for his country.

It’s one of a couple slightly complicated injury situations across the NHL, where players are dinged up and their teams may benefit from them resting while the players of course want to get on the ice at the Olympics.

That’s not to mention the guys who are trade candidates who their teams are likely just crossing their fingers don’t get hurt before they can be dealt.

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It’s obviously an awesome thing to have NHL players back at the Olympics. It just creates a few tricky situations in the lead-up to the Games that teams will have to navigate.

If Marchand can’t make the Olympics, it’s possible his Florida teammate, Sam Bennett, would be his replacement after being a surprising omission from the roster.

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