It was good news and bad news for the New Jersey Devils on Friday morning.
There were three goaltenders on the ice. Jacob Markstrom was out early on the ice ahead of his teammates, getting some work in. However, Jake Allen and Nico Daws were also both present, signaling Markstrom’s nearing return, but not quite yet.
Amid a six-game win streak, Devils head coach, Sheldon Keefe, isn’t trying to change the lineup too much, unless it’s out of necessity.
“He’s doing really well. He’s done well this whole time,” Keefe explained to the Devils media. “I think he only missed one day on the ice, He’s been skating a lot, and obviously he’s getting close to skating with our guys. [Markstrom’s] been taking live shots for a number of days from our guys that are on the injured reserve. This was the first skate with our guys, but I expect he’ll practice with us tomorrow. Then we’ll just take it from there.”
Thus, the projected lines against the Sharks remain unchanged:
Devils Lines Morning Skate 10/24/2025
Forwards
Ondrej Palat – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Arseny Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter – Dawson Mercer – Connor Brown
Stefan Noesen – Lucas Glendening – Brian Halonen
Defensemen
Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce
Dougie Hamilton – Jonas Siegenthaler
Brenden Dillon – Simon Nemec
Goaltenders
Jake Allen
Nico Daws
Here’s the bad news. Cody Glass remained absent. The Devils third-line center was a game-time decision before Wednesday’s tilt with the Minnesota Wild.
Keefe explained he became injured in New Jersey’s Tuesday tilt with the Edmonton Oilers. O
“He’s going to miss some time,” Keefe said. “The exact period, we’re not quite sure. It’s not a day-to-day situation. We’re hoping it’s no more than a couple of weeks, but we’ll see how it goes.”
For now, it’s Dawson Mercer at 3C, which worked well on Wednesday. We’ll see how long that last before perhaps Juho Lammikko returns and makes his Devils debut.
