The New Jersey Devils might be cursed.
On Saturday morning, it was revealed key Devils defenseman, Simon Nemec, suffered an undisclosed injury, and he is going to miss time.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe further explained that although he doesn’t know the timeline of Nemec’s injury, it was not a “day to day” situation.
“As guys saw yesterday, Nemec got injured in practice and missed over the last half of practice, and he’s just gonna miss time… [Nemec’s timeline is] still being determined, but it’s not day to day is what I would say at this point. An exact timeline, we’ll have to get that sorted in time,” Keefe explained Saturday morning.
Thus, the Devils recalled defenseman, Calen Addison, from the American Hockey League, and placed forward Timo Meier on the personal leave/family health non-roster list.
Keefe confirmed that the Devils will dress Addison against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, as well as Dennis Cholowski and Colton White.
Nemec’s injury is just another brutal blow to the Devils’ already extensive injured list.
He joins a significant index of injured players that includes Jack Hughes, Brett Pesce, Arseny Gritsyuk, Evgenii Dadonov, Zack MacEwen, and Johnathan Kovacevic.
Add Meier to the list due to his absence. In fact, Keefe explained there’s no timeline for the power forward’s return, either.
The Devils’ man-games lost total is now up to 171 games entering Saturday’s tilt with the Ducks. It’s the first of a back-to-back weekend, hosting the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon as well.
As a result of such injury chaos, the Devils have gone from first in the Metropolitan Division to sputtering on the outside of the playoff equation.
Certainly, there’s enough time to get the train back on its tracks. However, the injuries continue to pile up, and the Devils are facing everlasting pressure as a result.
