When the New Jersey Devils returned to the ice on Wednesday morning, it was all good news.
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Shane Lachance and Lenni Hameenaho were absent after reassignment on Tuesday to the Utica Comets. In a corresponding move, Luke Glendening signed a one-year, one-way contract, as we reported earlier in the week. Glendening skated with the team as an official player for the Devils for the first time on Wednesday.
However, that wasn’t the good news.
The good news was that key defenseman, Brett Pesce, was a full participant in practice, skating alongside his D-partner, Luke Hughes.
Pesce was injured in the second period of the Devils’ final preseason tilt against the New York Rangers, seemingly after blocking a handful of shots.
The veteran defenseman went on to miss the next handful of practices, but the Devils evidently avoided the worst-case scenario.
At forward, newly acquired forward, Zack MacEwen, was recalled by the Devils on Wednesday morning. The 29-year-old forward was acquired via trade from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for enforcer, Kurtis MacDermid.
MacEwen skated as the extra forward, and will wear No.15 for the Devils.
Devils Lines, Practice 10/08/2025
Forwards
Evgenii Dadonov—Jack Hughes—Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier–Nico Hischier—Dawson Mercer
Ondrej Palat—Cody Glass—Connor Brown
Paul Cotter—Luke Glendening—Arseny Gritsyuk
Zack MacEwen
Defensemen
Luke Hughes—Brett Pesce
Jonas Siegenthaler—Dougie Hamilton
Brenden Dillon–Simon Nemec
Dennis Cholowski–(Stefan Noesen)
Goaltenders
Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen
There’s really no surprises here ahead of New Jersey’s season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on the road. Stefan Noesen remains unavailable, and is skated as the extra defender, taking rotations with Dennis Cholowski. The Devils’ top-12, top-six defenders, and goaltenders as you saw at morning skate is more than likely the lineup on Thursday night in Raleigh.
We’re nearly there. Let’s drop the puck.
