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Devils Injury Updates

According to a staff report on the Devils app, a few of the injuries that have ravaged the team of late have been updated.

To begin with, we already know that Jack Hughes has been shut down for the remainder of the season due to his low grade MCL sprain. Imaging and evaluation done “by the Devils medical staff and head orthopedic surgeon/Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jonathan L. Glashow” confirmed the injury to his left knee.

As for other injured Devils, Yegor Sharangovich, who left Tuesday’s game against the Rangers after fighting Braden Schneider, “skated on his own prior to the team’s optional practice Wednesday.”

Coach Lindy Ruff commented that “That’s a positive. We’ll see how he makes out after that and how he feels tomorrow. I think there’s a possibility (he plays Thursday against Montreal). We’ll see where he’s at.”

Jimmy Vesey, who left the Rangers game when he collided with Schneider later on in the contest and was unable to “put weight on his leg” will also have “imaging done on his left leg Wednesday.”

Ruff said about Vesey: “We’ll find out more with regards to where he’s going to be at.”

Nathan Bastian got hurt in the Islanders game this past Sunday and was out for the Rangers game on Tuesday.

On Bastian, Ruff said: “Nate’s doing better. Hopefully he can skate tomorrow, but I don’t think he’ll be available to play.” That would likely rule him out for tomorrow’s game against the Montreal Canadiens at Prudential Center which will be completing the four-game homestand.

Due to the most recent rash of injuries, the Devils needed to make some call ups from AHL Utica to replace the four forwards who will be missing or their status touch-and-go.

In that regard, forwards Fabian Zetterlund and AJ Greer have been recalled from the Comets to fill the gaps.

For each, this is another call up to the NHL level. Zetterlund, 22-years-old, first played a series of three games for the Devils back in late November according to Sam Kasan of the “Inside the Devils Blog.”

He has led the Comets in goals this season with 24 as well as points with 52.

Greer made his most recent appearances for the Devils back on March 23 to 27 (three games) and has played a total of five games for New Jersey in 2021-22. For the Comets, he is tied for second in goals with 22 and is also second in points with 50.

Greer has more NHL experience having played 43 total games at the big-league level between the Colorado Avalanche and the Devils. He has a goal, five assists and six points in the NHL.

And, in a final bit of news from Peter Robinson (who writes the “Prospect Report” column on the Devils’ website, the Devils will have some players representing their future in the NCAA Frozen Four – which gets underway on Thursday in Boston.

The University of Michigan will face the University of Denver in the first semifinal then while the University of Minnesota will take on Minnesota State in the other semifinal.

The Wolverines have two freshmen defensemen in Luke Hughes and Ethan Edwards who are Devils draft picks.

(On a side note, Edwards’ brother, Brett, plays for Denver.)

Ethan Edwards was fourth-round pick in 2020 (120th overall) by the Devils.

Michigan last won a national championship in 1998 (as Robinson points out, in the same building in Boston – which was known as the Fleet Center back then) and then-future Devils Brendan Morrison and John Madden won an NCAA championship with Michigan in 1996.

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News as Devils Get Set to Resume on Thursday

Just thought I would type something up to get back in the swing of things as the Devils are back on Thursday after more than a week off from action.

Not a whole lot has been going on in the Devils’ camp – a lot of speculation from varying sources have been connecting the Devils to different deals to be made around the upcoming trade deadline, but nothing concrete yet, obviously.

What we do have is a goaltending roster change way back on February 17. Nico Daws was reassigned to the Utica Comets of the AHL while Akira Schmid was recalled to the Devils. This was reported by Amanda Stein of the Devils’ official website.

This move was made to get Daws some game time during the Devils’ break that will conclude on Thursday. Daws had been brought up to the Devils on February 4 according to Stein, making two appearances between the pipes. He started one game and relieved Jon Gillies in another.

Daws got a 4-2 win over the Rochester Americans on February 18 for Utica. Following that, Schmid was sent to Utica and got a 3-2 shootout victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on February 19.

This allowed the two goalies to stay fresh (albeit while traveling to Utica, for the Rochester game and Allentown, Pennsylvania, for the Phantoms game), but also sharp and get reps in.

Other than that news, the Devils are reporting through their app, that Jesper Bratt is healthy after recovering from an upper body injury.

He told Catherine Bogart that “I feel good. I was skating with the skills and skating coach, Ryan Murphy, for all the days when I was (away from) the team and it’s been good. He prepared me the best way to come back in the best shape possible with the team. Today was another good skate, yesterday was a great skate so I feel ready to go.”

He added more, telling Bogart in regards to his injury itself, “In the beginning when it happens you don’t really know how bad it’s going to be but after seeing the doctors and talking to the staff, it didn’t feel like I was going to miss too many games. After the first, second day, I started feeling a little better. I saw the progress every day. We were pretty lucky with the schedule.”

Dougie Hamilton will also be back when the Devils return on Thursday in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. He fractured his jaw on January 2 against the Washington Capitals and required surgery. Bogart reports that he has been cleared to play and will return to the lineup.

Head coach Lindy Ruff told Bogart: “I’m looking forward to him being back in the lineup. I’m counting on him being in. I’ve had a conversation with him, he said he’s ready to go and we’re ready to put him back.”

Hamilton himself said: “It’s always really hard to watch. You want to be out there through the good and the bad and going through everything with your teammates. So it’s hard to be on the outside looking in. Just for me, I’m excited to get back and playing.”

Bogart mentioned that Hamilton needed to work on getting the correct equipment to protect his injured jaw. The shield he would be using needed to both protect his jaw and be comfortable for him.

He continued to Bogart: “It’s changed because of the healing of my jaw. At the start I couldn’t have any pressure on it so I had to find something that had the pressure off it, but I couldn’t play with that mask. I think it’s at the point now where my jaw is solid and I’m able to put a pad on my chin and use that mask. I think there’s three, four different masks, and then just tweaking them and trying different things with those and different pads. I’m very thankful for the equipment trainers for working with me and helping me.”

And now that Hamilton will be wearing the full shield in-game, Ruff wants to give him a chance to succeed his best with it.

That is why Bogart says, he will be likely paired with Jonas Siegenthaler on the backend when Hamilton is back.

Ruff told Bogart: “Siegenthaler has been one of our top defenders on the left side, (this decision is) probably to give him some help at the same time, give him a real solid guy, that’s been a guy we’ve counted on in every situation. Trying to supply a little support. Hamilton’s wearing a full shield and we don’t know how he’s going to be. So part of that is probably putting him in the best place where he thinks he can succeed.”

Hamilton told Bogart about knowing when he was ready to return. Hamilton told her that he and his doctors had been in contact to decide when the timing was right.

He told her: “Talking to the doctors and surgeon and everything it’s my proper healing time. I don’t know if I’ll feel normal for awhile but there’s still some things that could take weeks, months, but I think it’s at the point now where it’s safe to play .. now that I got that green light it’s nice to have that and I’m ready to start playing again.”

The Devils will return to play with a (mostly) healthy roster on Thursday at 7 PM in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.