Frank Nazar out long term after taking puck to the face.

The Chicago Blackhawks have just been dealt a major blow just before the holidays.

On Saturday, Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar was injured when he was on the receiving end of a scorcher of a slapshot from Ottawa Senators defenseman Jordan Spence. Spence fired the puck off from the top of the face-off circle after receiving a pass from Senators teammate Claude Giroux, but the puck would unfortunately strike Nazar instead of the net.

Nazar was standing in front of the net at the time and unfortunately the puck would deflect directly into his face, with Nazar being struck directly in the jaw where there was no protection from his helmet or visor. Here is a look at the video of the incident:

In this replay you can see Nazar's face as he leaves the ice and, while there was no major visible damage, the reaction from Nazar makes it clear that he knows this is a bad situation:

Unfortunately the update from Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill was not a good one with Blashill confirming that Nazar is going to be out for quite some time. Although Blashill did not give a firm timeline, he did estimate that Nazar will miss roughly a month due to the injuries he suffered from the slap shot to the face.

Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.