© Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

CHICAGO — Seth Jones will be out four weeks with a right foot injury the Chicago Blackhawks defenseman sustained against the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 14.

“Unfortunate for us and him, he was rolling along pretty good,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said Wednesday. “But that’s just the nature of the business.”

The 30-year-old was placed on injured reserve Saturday. Richardson said Jones may have sustained the injury blocking a shot in Chicago’s 3-1 loss to Seattle.

Jones leads all NHL skaters in averaging 25:43 of ice time per game this season. His former teammate, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski, is second at 25:40. Jones has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 17 games.

“He’s got a calming presence back there with the puck,” Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic said of Jones on Monday. “It’s safe to say when he’s out there you trust him and you’re not worrying about things going wrong or him necessarily making any mistakes. He’s very steady and the mistakes he does make he’s able to make up for with his defensive skill, not only the defensive side but offensive as well.

“He’s a big help and contributes to our offense. So yeah, especially now with us lacking that kind of part of our game, our scoring, (his absence) is definitely hurting us.”

Richardson said it was unlikely the Blackhawks would recall defensemen such as Artyom Levshunov, their No. 2 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, or Kevin Korchinski, who played 76 games with them last season. Both are playing with Rockford of the American Hockey League.

Leveshunov didn’t practice with Chicago until Oct. 22 because of a fractured foot sustained during the offseason; Korchinski, 20, was the No. 7 pick at the 2022 NHL Draft. He didn’t play in the AHL last season because the NHL and Canadian Hockey League have an agreement that a CHL player isn’t eligible to play there until he turns 20.

“I think with ‘Arty,’ he’s just starting, so it’s probably not in the cards yet,” Richardson said of Levshunov. “Let him get comfortable and playing. He’s missed a lot of crucial time, that learning stage, first-year pro camp and rookie camp even. Very crucial for the learning curve.”

“And Kevin’s doing great down there, and that’s part of the reason (he’ll stay). Because they’ve had success with that, especially with (Vlasic) and (Wyatt) Kaiser last year, I think they want to go with that, and it’s worked for them. We don’t have to interrupt it too early. If we look at another injury, we may have to start looking at that, especially on the offensive side of things. But for right now I think that plan is going to stick for them staying and playing longer.”

The Blackhawks (6-12-1) host the Florida Panthers (12-6-1) at United Center on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, TVAS-D).