The Islanders are going to be without Mat Barzal for the foreseeable future. 

The club announced on Monday that Barzal is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury after leaving Saturday’s win over Tampa Bay in the final minutes, having blocked a shot off his left kneecap. 

Scott Mayfield, who left the same game after crashing into the end boards, is day to day, also with a lower-body injury. 

That at least means the Islanders may not be down yet another defenseman for too long — though it certainly puts Mayfield’s status into question for the three games between now and the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

The immediate task for the Islanders is to figure out how to get through a tough schedule this week — home Tuesday against Vegas before a two-game trip to Winnipeg and Minnesota — without losing any ground in the wild-card race despite an injury list that also includes Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, Semyon Varlamov, Marcus Hogberg, Mike Reilly and Hudson Fasching. 

They have been playing some of their best hockey of the year despite all the injuries, with seven straight wins before a 6-3 loss to Florida on Sunday night, but adding Mayfield and Barzal to the list makes this an incredibly difficult lift, with the Islanders facing a four-point gap to Columbus for the last wild-card spot as of Monday morning. 

Unlike in November and December, when there was a similar glut of injuries, the Islanders can’t merely try to tread water around NHL-.500.

With just 30 games left in the season, they need to be winning games and making up ground at every opportunity to make the playoffs. 

There should be at least some relief after the break — GM Lou Lamoriello said over the weekend that Dobson and Pulock should start skating during the two-week layoff and Marcus Hogberg’s return should be approximately timed with the end of the 4 Nations — but the bigger picture impact of Barzal’s absence on the playoff race is not yet clear. 

Between the injuries and some up-and-down play, this has been a disappointing season for Barzal.

But at a minimum, the Islanders are now without their best skater and most dynamic offensive player for an indefinite period of time. 

There were no roster moves announced immediately with the injury news, but if Barzal requires long-term injured reserve, that would peg his earliest return to the March 9 game in Anaheim. 

If he goes on LTIR, it would also give the Islanders $9.15 million worth of cap relief as long as Barzal is out, perhaps opening the possibility to go big-name hunting at the trade deadline. 

There is no salary cap in the playoffs, which has allowed other clubs — most infamously the Golden Knights — to use LTIR space to their advantage in recent years.

Depending on how long Barzal is out, perhaps that option is now open to the Islanders, and with the salary cap set to jump next summer, perhaps they would not have to settle for a rental. 

That said, without Barzal, the incentive to move Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri — each on expiring contracts — at the trade deadline grows even larger.

Lamoriello has been clear that he does not want to give up on this season, but keeping them would amount to an all-in bet that the Islanders can not only make the playoffs, but also make a run once there.

With Barzal out for an unknown period — and who knows what version of him the Islanders get if and when he returns — the chances of that are even lower. 

The way to solve that might be to try to look for a hockey trade which allows the Islanders to have it both ways, eliminating the risk of losing Nelson and Palmieri for nothing this summer while still keeping a competitive roster this season.

But that is easier said than done. 

Otherwise, the trade deadline just became an even tougher quagmire for a team that is trying desperately to avoid selling, and the Islanders’ playoff chances just took a serious hit.