It shouldn't. New Zealand stand alone in being spoilt for choice at first-five. No other team gets remotely close to matching them there.
Ireland's World Cup campaign will go up in a puff of smoke if anything happens to Johnny Sexton. England are much the same, knowing they won't be the same threat if George Ford is injured.
Australia, too, don't have much depth behind Bernard Foley and South Africa will have nothing on their bench if either Handrie Pollard or Morne Steyn are bashed around.
And every No 10 at the World Cup will be bashed around. New Zealand have some leeway that the others won't but no one should be smug. It won't be this way next year.
Carter and Slade are off and so is Tom Taylor. Barrett may well play sevens for the first half of the season and that will leave Cruden as the only proven test option.
New Zealand will be pulled back to what may be considered normality - a paucity of resource in the game's key decision-making role. A serious injury to Cruden next year and the All Blacks will be in a pickle.
Lima Sopoaga, who is expected to be named in the All Blacks today, will most likely be the man who partners Cruden in the early part of next year if Barrett is unavailable.
There is much to like about Sopoaga. He's a running first-five - definitely a line-breaking player who wants to challenge defences and either take himself through the gap or play someone else into it.
He's up there with the best in that regard. This season, he's pushed himself into the test picture by improving his goal-kicking and general game management. His improvements there have made him of more interest to the test selectors who know that even a talent such as Barrett has some way to go yet before he's deemed to be consistently ticking all the right boxes when he wears No 10 in the test arena.
Sopoaga is a prospect, which is not the same as being a proven operator, and the All Blacks are going to be vulnerable next year.
The cupboard is worryingly bare and coach Steve Hansen may end up feeling like Old Mother Hubbard when he surveys his options this time next year.
The fact the Crusaders are scrambling to find a first-five for next season and the Blues don't really have one who appears up to it is indicative of the national dearth.
It's going to take time to rebuild the talent pool to the same point it currently is at. The All Blacks, having not had to worry much about injuries for the past few years, are going to be nervous again about whether, for any given test, they are going to have a No 10 who can deliver the game plan they are after.
Damian McKenzie looks to have the skill-set to be an All Blacks playmaker. The question with him is when and it would be a stretch to say the answer is next year.
Above all else, the issue with him is winning meaningful game time at first-five with the Chiefs. Cruden barely missed a minute in 2012 and 2013 and it was only because of a broken thumb last year and a damaged knee in this campaign that he was forced to the sidelines.
If he's fit, the Chiefs want him to start every game and play almost every minute, which makes it hard to guesstimate how far and fast McKenzie might progress in the next 12 months - but probably not far enough or fast enough to be starting test matches in 2016.
The pipeline stops with McKenzie. There isn't any other obvious test candidate on the horizon.
New Zealand under-20 first-five Otere Black is a player of interest but, much like McKenzie, the question with him is game time.
Barrett's Super Rugby playing numbers are much the same as Cruden's and Black could be spectating from the bench way more than playing next year.
If Slade had signed until 2017, the picture would be different. Much different. The All Blacks would have three proven No10s and two good development prospects in Sopoaga and McKenzie.
There would be breathing space with Slade around - enough firepower to cope with Barrett playing sevens and an injury to Cruden.
But he's not and now the future carries an element of uncertainty and potential difficulty.
