The forward was placed on injured reserve Thursday. He left during the second period of a 3-2 overtime win at the Seattle Kraken on Sunday after his stick got lodged in the glass upon being checked.
"When he came in off the ice and talked to me, he couldn't hold a stick, so right away you're worried about that," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "It's very unfortunate because he was playing very, very well and playing a lot of important minutes, and doing a phenomonal job on the penalty kill. Those are important minutes that have to be replaced."
Appleton has six points (one goal, five assists) while averaging 16:34 of ice time in 14 games this season.
Selected by the Jets in the sixth round (No. 168) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Appleton has 70 points (29 goals, 41 assists) in 220 NHL games with Winnipeg and Seattle, and three points (one goal, two assists) in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Sam Gagner will likely move up from the fourth line to replace Appleton on the top line with Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele.
"He has good offensive instincts," Bowness said. "He knows his role when we brought him in, that he was going to be moved around a little bit, and this is part of that. Hopefully we can read off of Mark and K.C. and make it work. We'll see how it goes."
The Jets recalled defenseman
Ville Heinola
from Manitoba of the American Hockey League.
