Jon Cooper called it “the elephant in the room.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning coach had just watched one of his NHL team’s best forwards, Brayden Point, have to be helped off the ice Monday in Philadelphia, unable to put any weight on his right leg. And, as Team Canada’s coach, Cooper had also watched one of his Olympic team’s more trusted players injured with the start of the Milan Cortina Olympics just around the corner.

“I mean, there’s a big tournament coming up in a month, and he’s a big part of us,” Cooper said. “Let’s just hope everything turns out all right.”

The early indications aren’t encouraging. The Lightning haven’t placed any firm timelines or revealed the nature of the injury to Point’s right knee, but a league source said Tuesday that it’s “not good.”

The injury occurred moments after Point scored a power-play goal for the Lightning. As he stretched out to knock home a rebound, Flyers defenseman Cam York fell awkwardly on his right leg. Point immediately threw off his gloves and grabbed for the knee. Teammate Nikita Kucherov and Lightning head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan then slowly helped him off the ice.

Point traveled with the Lightning to Pittsburgh, where they’re set to face the Penguins on a back-to-back Tuesday. Prior to that game, Cooper told Tampa play-by-play broadcaster Dave Randorf that they avoid the “worst-case scenario” on Point.

“His season is not over,” said Cooper. “But he is week to week.”

Any absence longer than three weeks would jeopardize Point’s availability for the Olympics. NHL players are due to charter to Milan on Feb. 7, and Olympic teams have until the Feb. 11 start of the tournament to make injury replacements. Beyond that date, they are limited to the 25 players on their official roster.

Point was one of six players named to the initial Canadian roster in June. A two-time Stanley Cup winner and former 50-goal scorer, his versatility was on display while helping Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. Point played both center and right wing at that event, including seeing time beside Connor McDavid during the championship game.

He had a slow start to the season for Tampa Bay, but his game was rounding into much better shape over the past month. Point has scored eight goals and 19 points in 15 games since Dec. 9, helping the Atlantic Division-leading Lightning to a 10-game winning streak in the process.

“The tough part for Pointer is his game had really turned the corner, and it seemed like he was scoring every night for us,” Cooper said.

The Calgary native hasn’t previously represented his country at the Olympics.

In the event that Point’s injury knocks him out of the tournament, Canada general manager Doug Armstrong’s management team has a group of forwards already standing by in reserve to select a replacement from.

Obviously, everyone involved hopes Point recovers in time for Milan. But in the meantime, conversations need to be had in case he ultimately has to be replaced.

On Dec. 31, the day Canada’s roster was announced, Armstrong explained how they would go about assembling the reserve list should an injury occur.

“We’ve worked a (reserve) list that we think checks a lot of different boxes,” Armstrong told The Athletic. “So if this player gets hurt, and he performs a certain role, what replacement do we want?

“We’ll want to make sure we keep as many options available so that we take the player that’s playing the best in the area we need him.”

In other words, there isn’t necessarily one specific player who is the “next man up” should an injury require a roster change. The replacement would depend on two factors: the candidate’s performance at the time of consideration and the skill set and role of the player being replaced.

Sam Bennett, Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnston, Mark Scheifele, Seth Jarvis and Travis Konecny are among those on the reserve list, according to league sources.

What role would Point have on the Olympic roster, if healthy? One league source said the plan was to play him on the top line alongside McDavid. As mentioned, that’s where Point was in the championship game, but there was some line-blending and line-matching as the game went. He also played some center in that tournament.

Either way, he would be headed for a top-six role in Milan.

There are two ways Team Canada could go about replacing him: Replace him with a player who can directly take over his role or elevate a player already named to the team to that role and backfill at the bottom.

If Team Canada was looking for a player who could play both center and wing and also, like Point, was a right shot, that would bring Bedard and Johnston especially into focus. One can’t discount fellow right-hand shots Scheifele and Jarvis, either.

Probably the closest skillset match for Point is Johnston. But Bedard offers the most offensive ceiling.

And don’t overlook Bennett, for the simple fact that he was the most difficult player for management to leave off the roster in the first place. Maybe an injury replacement offers Team Canada a chance for a do-over there and they can rethink roles in other ways.

One way or another, if Point needs replacing, it’s another difficult decision coming for Team Canada and one that won’t please everyone.