“Last night we were very fearful he had seriously hurt himself, so three to six weeks is good news from our end,” head coach Barry Trotz said. “It is a little bit of a blow, but one thing we really pride ourselves on is that we are really deep on defense – we have a lot of capable guys that can step in.”

Weber played only 2:19 of the opening period of the season before catching his skate awkwardly on the ice while falling, causing the injury.

Ville Koistinen is poised to make his NHL debut Saturday, after making the team out of camp and serving as a healthy scratch last night,. Trotz said he expects to plug the 5-11, 190-pound Oulu, Finland native into many of the same spots Weber played, both five-on-five and manning the power play point.

“We are really excited about seeing Ville at this level because he has quick feet and thinks the game very well,” Trotz said. “Kevin Klein is also practicing with us now, so we still feel really good about our defense.”

Nashville returns to action tomorrow night when it clashes with the Dallas Stars. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.