The New Jersey Devils took the ice for morning skate on Monday, and it was revealed there’s another injury in the forward group.
READ MORE: Key Devils Forward Moved to Injured Reserve; 2024-25 AHL Leading Scorer Recalled
Newly acquired forward, Zack MacEwen played one game with the Devils, and had a strong debut. However, he’s now out with an injury, and head coach Sheldon Keefe explained he’s going to be unavailable.
“He sustained an injury in the last game there, late in the third period. He’s going to miss an extended period of time,” Keefe explained to Devils media. “The length, we won’t know until later on, but that’s the situation with him.”
On Sunday, the Devils recalled Brian Halonen from the American Hockey League. In a corresponding move, Evgenii Dadonov landed on the long-term injured reserve. As a result, he must miss 10 games and 24 days.
So, Halonen slotted in for MacEwen on the fourth line, otherwise, the forward group remains the same.
However, Keefe switched up the power play units. Through the first two games of the season, New Jersey’s man advantage is struggling with no goals on six attempts, and looking quite disjointed.
As opposed to what we’ve been seeing, the power play units ahead of New Jersey’s tilt with the Blue Jackets are as follows:
Devils Updated Power Play Units 10/13/2025
Power Play 1: Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hichier, Jack Hughes, and Timo Meier
Power Play 2: Luke Hughes, Arseni Gritsyuk, Ondrej Palat, Cody Glass, and Dawson Mercer
We’re just two games in, so is the switch up premature? Well, the Devils’ head coach explained the change is less about the previous results, and more about the matchup with Columbus on Monday night.
“If I look at how our power play went in the first couple of games, there are some things there you want to do better for sure,” Keefe said.
“But, as we’ve talked about, you’re going to see our power play change periodically as we play different opponents who play with different styles. The changes we’re making today are probably more in response to the opponent than anything else.”
