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Devils Assign Three To AHL

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With the Devils playing their final game before the break this afternoon, they’ve wasted little time setting their roster for the next couple of weeks until play resumes while freeing up a bit of extra salary cap space in the process.  The team announced that goaltender Nico Daws and defensemen Simon Nemec and Santeri Hatakka have been assigned to AHL Utica.

Daws was recalled last weekend to serve as Jake Allen’s backup with Jacob Markstrom still sidelined due to a lower-body injury.  He made a pair of appearances during that stint, one in relief with one start, turning aside 32 of 34 shots.  Daws has been limited to just 21 games with the Comets due to injury where he has a 3.40 GAA and a .888 SV%.  He’ll likely get a few starts during the break before being recalled when NHL play resumes as Markstrom might not quite be ready to return by then.

As for Nemec, he was brought up on Thursday with Jonas Siegenthaler banged up.  He played in both of New Jersey’s games following his promotion but was held off the scoresheet.  On the season, he has only played 11 games with the Devils after seeing action in 60 a year ago.  Instead, Nemec has spent most of the campaign in Utica where he has been able to play a much bigger role.  The 20-year-old has done well down there with 22 points in 32 games.

As for Hatakka, his demotion should come as little surprise after he cleared waivers earlier today.  He has yet to play this season after missing the first four months of the campaign while recovering from shoulder surgery.  He split last season between New Jersey and Utica and will now try to play himself into consideration for a recall for the stretch run.

Devils’ Santeri Hatakka Clears Waivers

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Feb. 8th: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared that Hatakka has successfully cleared waivers. New Jersey is free to reassign him to AHL Utica at any time.

Feb. 7th: The Devils placed defenseman Santeri Hatakka on waivers Friday for the purposes of reassignment to AHL Utica, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The move indicates he’s been cleared to play after spending the first four months of the season on injured reserve due to shoulder surgery.

The 24-year-old Hatakka will aim to get back up to game speed in Utica and quickly challenge for a recall, assuming he clears. The Devils are down a defenseman with Jonas Siegenthaler dealing with an undisclosed injury, and top prospect Simon Nemec struggled in his first game back with the team last night in their loss to the Golden Knights after a months-long AHL stint. There’s an opening for Hatakka to return to NHL action once his conditioning is where it needs to be.

This is the first year Hatakka has needed waivers to head to the minors. As a result, the Finnish prospect was a frequent flyer between Newark and Utica last season. He signed a two-way deal with a $125K AHL salary as a restricted free agent last summer before aiming to grab a spot on the opening night roster. However, that pathway was muddied for him with the Devils’ signings of Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce in free agency (as well as the trade acquisition of Johnathan Kovacevic) even before his late-preseason shoulder injury.

Hatakka, acquired from the Sharks in the Timo Meier trade in 2023, skated in 12 NHL games for Jersey last year and recorded two assists with a plus-five rating. He averaged 14:39 per game and had 12 blocks and 14 hits, putting up a perfectly serviceable 49.8 CF% at even strength in bottom pairing usage. The 2019 sixth-rounder is an intriguing third-pairing option for the long haul, especially after posting 5-15–20 in 48 games for Utica last season.

Devils Place Nico Hischier On IR, Recall Simon Nemec

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The Devils announced today that captain Nico Hischier is headed for injured reserve after missing the last four contests with an upper-body injury. Top defense prospect Simon Nemec was called up from AHL Utica in the corresponding move and will enter the lineup tonight against the Golden Knights in place of Jonas Siegenthaler, who left Tuesday’s game against the Penguins with an apparent leg/ankle injury after falling awkwardly in the neutral zone.

Hischier sustained the injury on a cross-check/slash from Montreal captain Nick Suzuki, leading to his first absence of the season. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters last week that Hischier is out week-to-week, so while he’s eligible to come off IR at any time, he’s still not expected back for their final game before the 4 Nations Face-Off against the Canadiens on Saturday.

He remains the team’s goal leader despite missing time, with 24 in 51 games. He’s also added 19 assists for 43 points, ranking fourth on the team with a +11 rating and leading them with a 55.5 FO%. Dawson Mercer briefly shifted from wing to center for the first few games of his absence but was replaced down the middle by Erik Haula for Tuesday’s game after the veteran was cleared to return from an ankle sprain.

After making New Jersey’s opening-night roster, Nemec gets another chance in the NHL. He recorded an assist and a minus-two rating in nine games before a string of healthy scratches and an eventual reassignment to Utica in early November. The 2022 second-overall pick has 5-17–22 in 32 AHL games since his demotion, the best offensive showing of his three-minor league campaigns.

His recall comes after he expressed frustration about his extended AHL assignment to a media outlet in his native Slovakia last month. However, he said he hadn’t requested a trade out of Newark, and the Devils haven’t yet appeared willing to leverage him in a trade.

Someone will be playing on their offside tonight against Vegas, as Nemec gives them four righties and two lefties on the blue line. Johnathan Kovacevic is the only one of the former group to spend significant time on the left this season, per CapWages, so he’ll likely replace Siegenthaler in top-pairing duties alongside Dougie Hamilton while Nemec enters the lineup alongside either Brenden Dillon or Luke Hughes.

New Jersey Devils Activate Erik Haula, Reassign Brian Halonen

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The New Jersey Devils have taken their last player off injured reserve as they enter tonight’s action against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Devils announced they’ve activated forward Erik Haula from the injured reserve and reassigned forward Brian Halonen to their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, in a corresponding roster move.

Tonight’s game against the Penguins will be Haula’s first in exactly a month. The veteran middle-six forward suffered a sprained ankle in New Jersey’s January 4th matchup against the San Jose Sharks leading to his placement on the team’s injured reserve.

The 33-year-old from Pori, Finland, is experiencing his lowest average offensive output in an 82-game season since his second year with the Minnesota Wild during the 2014-15 campaign. This season, he has scored five goals and recorded 11 points in 42 games with the Devils, placing him 14th on the team in scoring and 10th among forwards.

It’s an understandable decline, given his deteriorating responsibility with New Jersey. He’s only one year removed from scoring 16 goals and 35 points in 76 games for the Devils, averaging 16:53 of ice time per game. His usage was primarily based on team necessity, as New Jersey suffered an onslaught of injuries last year.

Haula has seen his average ice time drop by approximately two and a half minutes, which makes him more of a third-line scoring option at this point in his career. Still, given his ability to play all three forward positions and his experience on the special teams, he’s one of the multiple cost-effective options the Devils could put anywhere in the lineup.

Halonen, the former standout at Michigan Technological University, returns to AHL Utica after a two-game stint in New Jersey. He’ll return to his role as a productive top-six forward, having scored 54 goals and 86 points in 138 career games as a Comet, although the team has struggled dramatically in that time.

Metropolitan Notes: Haula, Malkin, Duclair, Edstrom, Stillman

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It has been one of the busiest weeks of the season for the Metropolitan Division. Five of the division’s eight teams have made trades in the last few weeks, and all eight clubs are dealing with multiple injuries. That’s sparked plenty of news and updates – starting with the New Jersey Devils, who plan to bring centerman Erik Haula on their upcoming two-game road trip despite already ruling him out for Sunday’s game against Buffalo, per team reporter Amanda Stein. Stein added that Haula will practice with the team on the road trip and be questionable for Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh. Haula suffered an ankle injury on January 5th and has been out of action ever since. He’s missed 11 games and was placed on injured reserve on January 17th. He resumed skating four days later and was upgraded to out day-to-day on January 29th.

Haula is now one step closer to returning. Having already been ruled out of Sunday’s game, he’ll have three more opportunities to get back into the lineup before the team goes on a two-week break for the 4-Nations Face-Off. Whether or not he’ll be able to return before that break will be notable, as Haula has been selected to represent Team Finland at the tournament. He has so far made no indication that he won’t be able to play – but the thought of his absence will weigh on a Finnish club that recently lost top defenseman Miro Heiskanen for the tourney. Haula is in the midst of a down year, with just 11 points in 42 games – his lowest scoring pace since the 2016-17 season. But he’ll still be an important addition to the Finns’ lineup should he return back to full health, likely to slot in as a middle-six winger with Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, Aleksander Barkov, and Anton Lundell manning the middle lane.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are gearing up for an even more notable return, after franchise legend Evgeni Malkin has returned to practice in a non-contact jersey on Saturday, per Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Malkin has missed Pittsburgh’s last four games and is still expected to miss a few more with a lower-body injury. He will be hard-pressed to return before Pittsburgh’s 4-Nations break begins on February 8th. The Penguins have lost two of the games that Malkin has missed. They were outscored 9-2 in the pair of outings. With that in mind, Pittsburgh will hope their future Hall-of-Fame Russian can get back to full health ASAP – and get back to building on the 34 points he’s scored in 47 games this season. Malkin continues to play a pivotal role on the team’s second line, averaging north of 18 minutes of ice time this season.

While New Jersey and Pittsburgh gear up for returns, the Islanders will have yet another lineup vacancy to fill, with winger Anthony Duclair set to miss Saturday’s game due to illness, per Andrew Gross of Newsday Sports. Duclair missed over two months of action earlier in the year, sitting out from October 20th to December 21st with a lower-body injury. He scored three points in his first three games back, but has been ice cold ever since – with just two points in his last 14 games. Duclair has held onto top-nine ice time despite the scoring drought, giving the Islanders a hardy role to fill as he misses yet another game. Marc Gatcomb has returned to the lineup to fill the vacancy, earning another chance to find scoring after playing in his first seven NHL games, and scoring his first goal, earlier this season. Gatcomb will fill a fourth-line role, while Simon Holmstrom has been promoted into the top-nine.

Joining the list of Metropolitan absentees is New York Rangers forward Adam Edstrom, who suffered an apparent injury in the team’s Saturday loss to the Boston Bruins. No specifics of Edstrom’s injury or timeline have been revealed. It’s terrible timing for the towering forward, who’s scored two points and seen a boost in ice time over his last five games. His absence will force the Rangers to fill a hole on their fourth line, likely opening the door for Arthur Kaliyev, Jimmy Vesey, or top prospect Brennan Othmann to earn a spot start. Vesey notably voiced concerns over his ice time recently – and could now have a golden chance to prove he can make a lasting impact with minimal minutes.

Closing out the littany of Metro updates – the Carolina Hurricanes have reassigned depth defenseman Riley Stillman back to the minor leagues. Stillman was recalled for his season debut on Friday. He played in just under eight minutes of ice time and recorded one shot and two hits. He’ll now return to the minor leagues, where he’s scored two goals and five points through 15 games.

Devils Reassign Isaac Poulter, Recall Nico Daws

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Saturday: As expected, the Devils announced that Daws has been recalled and will accompany the team on their upcoming two-game road trip.

Thursday: The Devils assigned goaltender Isaac Poulter to AHL Utica on Thursday, per a team announcement. The move banks a bit of cap space during a three-day break in the schedule, but he’s not expected to return to the roster when they leave for a two-game road trip to Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Instead, the more experienced Nico Daws will be recalled “in all likelihood” to backup Jake Allen for the trip, Amanda Stein of the team’s official site reports.

New Jersey recalled Poulter last Friday after news broke that starter Jacob Markström would miss the next four to six weeks with an MCL sprain. The 23-year-old backed up Allen in the Devils’ last three games following Markström’s injury but did not play. He’s still awaiting his NHL debut despite being recalled four times since signing a two-year two-way contract with New Jersey last February.

Initially signed by Utica as an undrafted free agent out of the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, Poulter is now in his third season of professional hockey. The 6’2″, 174-lb depth netminder has a 2.90 GAA, .900 SV%, four shutouts, and a 32-18-8 record in 60 appearances with Utica, as well as a 2.82 GAA, .911 SV%, one shutout, and a 15-8-2 record in 28 games with ECHL Adirondack. This season has been his first without any ECHL time after establishing himself as a full-time AHL option, taking over as the struggling Comets’ best option between the pipes with a .897 SV% and 8-7-4 record in 19 showings.

Despite outperforming Daws this season, he’ll need to continue biding his time in the minors while the latter gets another chance at NHL ice time. Daws, 24, has 46 games of NHL experience compared to Poulter’s zero, but those have come out of necessity, with injuries being a common theme in the New Jersey crease over the past few seasons. The German-born Canadian national has a 19-22-1 record with a 3.13 GAA and .894 SV% across action in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 campaigns. He allowed 10.2 goals above expected over that multi-year run, per MoneyPuck.

In 21 games with Utica this season, Daws has a 3.40 GAA, .888 SV%, one shutout, and a 5-14-2 record. While he posted save percentages north of .900 in his first two AHL campaigns, he’s been below that mark since the beginning of last year. Neither Daws nor Poulter requires waivers this season, but the former will as of next year. Daws is under contract through next season, while Poulter is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.

Nico Hischier Downgraded To Week-To-Week

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Devils captain Nico Hischier’s injury status has been downgraded to week-to-week, head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters Wednesday (including Gabriel Trevino of NJ.com). He has not played since sustaining an upper-body injury on a crosscheck from Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki last Saturday.

Keefe initially called Hischier day-to-day following the injury, which held him out of Monday’s loss to the Flyers. However, he left the team’s road trip to return to New Jersey to visit with team doctors for further evaluation. Evidently, it wasn’t positive news for the Swiss centerman, who will now miss another three games at minimum.

Past the halfway point of the season, Hischier leads the team in goals with 24 and has added 19 assists for 43 points in 51 games. He’s putting up career-highs in shooting percentage (17%) and average ice time (20:21), as well as winning 55.5% of his draws and logging a career-high 55.5 CF% at even strength. It’s been a dominant two-way campaign from the 2023 Selke Trophy finalist, one that could put him back in that conversation, assuming his absence doesn’t stretch out for too much longer.

It’s a difficult blow for the Devils, who are 4-5-3 since New Year’s and are already without starting goaltender Jacob Markström until around the trade deadline due to a sprained MCL. They’ve called to 28-18-6, decidedly third in the Metropolitan Division behind the Capitals and Hurricanes, and are now being chased by the red-hot Blue Jackets who are seven points back with two games in hand.

23-year-old Dawson Mercer shifts to center in Hischier’s absence with Erik Haula also on the shelf. The 2020 first-rounder has 23 points in 52 games, up only slightly from last year’s offensive pace.

Devils Recall Brian Halonen

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The Devils are recalling winger Brian Halonen from AHL Utica for the second time this month, per the NHL’s media site (h/t James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now). He’ll take up New Jersey’s vacant spot on the active roster and take a league-minimum-sized bite out of their $2.9MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia.

Halonen’s first recall lasted four days and resulted in his first NHL appearance since last April. He logged a minus-one rating and two shot attempts in 11:35 of ice time against the Flyers on Jan. 18 while filling in for a Devils forward group dealing with an illness.

This time around, his recall comes as insurance for a potentially injured Nico Hischier. The New Jersey captain left Saturday’s game against the Canadiens and did not return and is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. If he can’t play tonight against Philly, Halonen will likely draw in for his second game of the season and his fourth career NHL appearance.

While the 6’0″ winger has just three NHL games under his belt, he’s making a name for himself as a high-end scoring threat at the AHL level. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan Tech in 2022, the 26-year-old Halonen is on pace for a career-high 30 goals in the minors this season after breaking out for 20 in only 35 appearances in 2023-24. He’s totaled 54 goals and 32 assists for 86 points in 138 games since debuting for the Comets to end the 2021-22 campaign. He’s continued the momentum that convinced New Jersey to sign him after a 21-goal, 44-point senior season at Michigan Tech that made him a Hobey Baker Award finalist.

Halonen remains waiver-exempt this season, so he won’t land on the wire when his latest recall is over. He signed a two-year, two-way extension last May, so he isn’t set to become a free agent until the summer of 2026.

Devils’ Nico Hischier Day-To-Day, Jack Hughes Banged Up

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The New Jersey Devils could soon be without their two top forwards. Captain Nico Hischier left the team’s Saturday night matchup against the Montreal Canadiens in the second period, after receiving a slash from Canadiens center Nick Suzuki. No penalty was called on the play, and instead Suzuki skated up the ice and recorded the primary assist on Montreal’s second goal. Now, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe has shared that Hischier could be out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now.

Nichols also shared that Jack Hughes is, “less than 100 percent” due to a nagging finger injury. He suffered the injury partway through New Jersey’s Wednesday win over the Boston Bruins, exiting in the first period to get stitches in his finger but returning shortly after the start of the second. Hughes missed the team’s Friday practice to avoid risk of infection or further inflammation, but played in 20 minutes of New Jersey’s overtime win on Saturday. His status will be monitored closely as the Devils gear up for two weekday games against the Philadelphia Flyers.

There’s been no indication of whether or not the Devils top two centers will play on Monday. If they don’t, New Jersey will play their first game without the star duo in over two years. Despite routine injuries, one of the Devils’ star centers has found a way to stand at the top of the lineup – which would make matching absences incredibly tough to fill. Hughes and Hischier currently rank first and third on the Devils in scoring, with 57 and 43 points in 51 games respectively.

The only extra forward on New Jersey’s lineup is presently Kurtis MacDermid, who’s stepped into four games since the start of January. He doesn’t have any scoring through 19 games this season, which could force the Devils to look towards their minor leagues for meaningful fill-ins. Nolan Foote and Brian Halonen lead the AHL’s Utica Comets in scoring, with 25 points in 33 games and 24 points in 34 games respectively. Both players have served as injury fill-ins throughout the season, though neither has managed any NHL scoring in their spot starts. New Jersey could also turn towards Adam Beckman, who has 22 points in 29 AHL games and also managed two assists in 11 NHL games earlier this year. But none of those players bring natural center ability to the NHL lineup, likely meaning that any recall would need coupled with someone like Stefan Noesen, Ondrej Palat, or Dawson Mercer shifting into the middle-lane.

Hughes To Play Saturday Despite Missing Practice, Daws To Be Recalled Next Week

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  • While Devils center Jack Hughes was held out of practice today, it appears he won’t miss any game action. Team reporter Amanda Stein relays (Twitter link) that Hughes is dealing with a swollen finger so they opted not to take the risk of infection by putting his glove on for a practice.  However, he is expected to play on Saturday against Montreal.  Hughes leads New Jersey with 56 points in 50 games and is tied for the team lead in assists (38) with Jesper Bratt.
  • Still with the Devils, while Isaac Poulter was recalled earlier today to serve as the interim backup to Jake Allen, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll be up for too long. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now that the plan is for Nico Daws to play with AHL Utica over the weekend and then be recalled.  Daws has been limited to just two appearances in the last four weeks due to injury so the extra game action is needed before he can be considered to suit up in New Jersey when Allen needs a night off.

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