Devils Further Trim Down Their Roster

The Devils continue to march closer to the NHL regular season as yesterday they made eight cuts to their roster, getting down to 34 players remaining.

According to Sam Kasan of the Inside the Devils Blog on the Devils’ official website, forwards Graeme Clarke, Nolan Foote, Aarne Talvitie and Fabian Zetterlund in addition to defensemen Kevin Bahl and Reilly Walsh and goalie Nico Daws have all been assigned to the Utica Comets of the AHL as of yesterday afternoon.

AJ Greer was put on waivers and, should he clear by today, will also be assigned to Utica. No word at the moment if the forward was claimed by anyone.

The Devils will have a few more players to cut in order to get down to an NHL roster. Obviously, the cancelation of last night’s preseason game against the Islanders puts a bit of a monkey wrench into things. While the coaching staff can get a feel in practice and scrimmages how a player is performing, there is nothing like game action against NHL-caliber players.

It is not the end of the world, but I am sure the staff would have liked to have played the game last night.

We will have more information on the roster as it becomes available.

Preseason: Devils-Islanders Game Canceled Due to Power Failure

The final preseason game of 2021 for the New Jersey Devils has been canceled due to a power outage at the Prudential Center.

As relayed by Shannon Hogan of the Islanders’ MSG broadcast team that was set to do the game, the scoreboard and some lights at one end of the arena went out during the latter half of the pregame warmups.

The TV broadcast on MSG Networks cut to MSG Shorts to fill time.

Corey Masisak – Devils writer for The Athletic – confirmed that the power went out on Twitter. When the power could not be restored, the game was called off for the safety of the players and fans in attendance.

In roster news for the night, Mackenzie Blackwood was not dressed despite being confirmed for the lineup earlier in the day. On the MSG pregame broadcast, Isles’ play-by-play man Brendan Burke said that the Devils would have more information after the game on Blackwood. I will try to update here when the team issues a statement.

The Islanders have one remaining preseason game on Saturday in Bridgeport, Connecticut against the Rangers. This concludes the Devils’ preseason and they will open up next Wednesday, October 15 at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Hopefully the power is restored at Prudential Center by then.