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Curtis Lazar

Devils Notes: Markström, Pesce, Lazar, Palát

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Despite a five-game loss to the Hurricanes in the first round, Jacob Markström backstopped his Devils with one of the best goaltending performances of the postseason. He posted a .911 SV% and 2.78 GAA behind an injury-plagued New Jersey defense, including a spectacular 49-save performance in Game 5’s double-overtime loss. Through five games, Markström’s 5.7 goals saved above expected lead the playoffs, per MoneyPuck.

On the heels of that strong showing in his first year in New Jersey, Markström enters next season as a pending unrestricted free agent and becomes eligible to sign an extension on July 1. That’s something he has a strong interest in doing. “If [general manager Tom Fitzgerald] is calling, I’m answering,” the netminder told reporters today during end-of-season media availability (per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now).

Markström is entering the final season of the six-year, $36MM contract he signed with the Flames in free agency in 2020. The Devils are only on the hook for $4.125MM of his $6MM cap hit, though, as Calgary retained 31.25% of his deal when they traded him to New Jersey last offseason. He had a somewhat pedestrian regular season, logging a .900 SV%, 2.50 GAA, and 3.4 GSAx in 49 starts, but the one-time All-Star was still a marked improvement over the goaltending that arguably tanked the Devils’ 2023-24 campaign.

He’ll be 36 next summer, so a long-term deal certainly isn’t in the cards. Injuries remain somewhat of a concern, especially given his age – he’s now missed at least 10 games in back-to-back years. His age also means the Devils can give him performance bonuses on a one-year extension to keep his initial cap hit down. If he wants a multi-year commitment, though, he’s ineligible for performance bonuses.

Here’s more on the Devils:

  • New Jersey lost defensemen Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes in Game 1 for the rest of the series, and they weren’t the only rearguards hurt in that contest. Brett Pesce told reporters today he sustained a shoulder injury in the opening game of the postseason but played through it, per the club’s Amanda Stein. It’s unclear whether he’ll require offseason surgery. Pesce has a history of shoulder issues, missing the tail end of the 2017-18 season before eventually undergoing surgery on his right shoulder in February 2020. Pesce struggled to the tune of 17 points and a minus-five rating in 72 games for the Devils this year after signing a six-year, $33MM deal in free agency last summer.
  • Center Curtis Lazar’s knee injury never fully healed after making an earlier-than-expected return to the lineup in December, he told Nichols. He underwent surgery on Oct. 27 but was back in the lineup less than two months later, although he did miss a few games later in the season. The pending unrestricted free agent expressed a desire to be back in Newark next year. While he recorded just five points in 48 contests in 2024-25, he’s one year removed from a career-high 25 points and a +10 rating in 71 games. A healthy Lazar can be an effective bottom-six talent, especially if he returns on a deal similar to his current $1MM cap hit.
  • Winger Ondřej Palát will not be representing his native Czechia at this year’s World Championship, per Stein. The 34-year-old managed only 28 points in 75 games this year, a career-low in a full season, and had two assists in five postseason contests. He was an alternate captain for Czechia at the Worlds last year, scoring 3-3–6 in 10 games en route to a gold medal. Being named to Czechia’s roster for the Winter Olympics next year would give him a shot at joining Jaromír Jágr and Jiří Šlégr as Czech members of the Triple Gold Club.

Devils Recall Justin Dowling

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The Devils announced yesterday that they have recalled center Justin Dowling from AHL Utica. They had an open spot on the active roster, so no corresponding transaction was necessary. His services were needed in last night’s 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets with Curtis Lazar, who came off injured reserve Tuesday after undergoing knee surgery, exiting the lineup again due to continued post-surgery swelling, head coach Sheldon Keefe said (via Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers).

Dowling, 34, had been on New Jersey’s roster for most of the last two months as Lazar’s replacement but was waived and reassigned earlier in the week to make room for the latter’s return. He’s in his second year with the Devils after inking a two-year, two-way deal in free agency in 2023 and has been a solid veteran presence on the farm. He’s posted 16 goals, 28 assists and 44 points in 64 games for Utica since last season, including four points in seven games this year.

The Calgary native’s 22 NHL appearances this season in Lazar’s absence are now his most since the 2021-22 season with the Canucks. He has two goals and an assist with a -2 rating, averaging 8:30 per game and winning 47.5% of his faceoffs. The 5’10”, 180-lb pivot has been serviceable for his limited role, controlling 48.8% of shot attempts and 48.6% of expected goals at even strength. Those shares are below New Jersey’s team averages but don’t paint him as anything worse than the replacement-level call-up he’s made out to be.

Dowling can remain on the active roster for up to 30 non-consecutive days or play 10 games before he requires waivers to return to Utica again. He might hit those numbers depending on how much longer Lazar needs a recovery window before he can play again. Keefe said he’ll likely be on the active roster through the Christmas break. If not, he can still be returned to Utica during the roster freeze.

[RELATED: Allowable Transactions During The Roster Freeze Period]

In 122 NHL games in parts of seven seasons with the Canucks, Devils and Stars, Dowling has 22 points and a -18 rating while averaging 10:24 per game.

Devils Activate Curtis Lazar, Justin Dowling Clears Waivers

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12/18: Dowling has cleared waivers and been assigned to the minor leagues, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

12/17: The Devils announced that they’ve activated Curtis Lazar from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Blues. The team placed Justin Dowling on waivers in a corresponding move, although they already had the roster spot necessary to activate Lazar, so Dowling’s pending reassignment or claim will keep their active roster count at 22.

It’s a much quicker return to action than most expected for Lazar. The 29-year-old sustained a knee injury on Oct. 27 against the Ducks that required surgery. The team said he didn’t have a timeline for a return, hinting that it could be a couple of months or more until he laced up the skates again. Instead, he’s back just over six weeks later with a relatively quick run-up time, considering he only started skating in the past couple of days (at least in terms of public knowledge).

Lazar has been a good fourth-line piece for the Devils since they acquired him from the Canucks at the 2023 trade deadline. He’s scored eight goals and 27 points in 87 regular-season games since becoming a Devil, two of which have come in 12 games this season. He’s bounced between center and wing, winning 48.3% of his draws, and the Devils have controlled 47.5% of shot attempts with Lazar on the ice at even strength.

New Jersey, whose roster is at full health for the first time since Lazar exited the lineup, will have him center their fourth line tonight between Tomáš Tatar and Nathan Bastian, the latter of whom recently returned from jaw surgery. The first-round pick of the Senators back in 2013 recorded a career-high 25 points in a similar role for the Devils last season.

For the most part, Dowling has covered directly for Lazar during his absence. The 34-year-old started the season in AHL Utica after clearing waivers but was recalled in the days following Lazar’s injury. He’s played in every Devils game since, posting two goals and an assist in 21 appearances while averaging 8:30 per game. The 5’10” pivot won 47.4% of his faceoffs and recorded eight blocks and 16 hits.

Dowling is in his second season as a Devil since signing in Newark as a free agent in 2023. He had two goals and two assists in six games with Utica before his recall. He finished fifth on the AHL club in scoring last season with 40 points in 57 games.

Metro Notes: Hughes, Lazar, Mangiapane

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New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald intends to speak with the agent of defenseman Luke Hughes about a contract extension at some point in the coming weeks (as per Sam Kasan). Fitzgerald hasn’t put any timeline on how soon he wants to get a deal done as he feels it creates unnecessary pressure on the player (as per Devils reporter Gabriel Trevino).

Hughes missed the first nine games of the regular season with a shoulder injury but has returned to form, posting one goal and ten assists through 24 games. While those numbers are a tick below his offensive numbers last season, it took a while for the 21-year-old to ramp up his play, and he has been better as of late, with six points in his last eight games. Hughes’s three-year entry-level contract will expire on July 1st, 2025, at which point he will become a restricted free agent.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Devils injured forward Curtis Lazar has been upgraded to day-to-day and could return to the lineup soon (as per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now). Lazar hasn’t played since October 27th, after he suffered a knee injury that required surgery. The 29-year-old has missed 21 games during this time but was a surprise return to practice just a few days ago. The Salmon Arm, British Columbia native has dressed in 12 games this season, posting a goal and an assist.
  • The Washington Capitals have announced that forward Andrew Mangiapane will not play tonight against the Dallas Stars due to an illness. Mangiapane will miss his first game of the season, having played in all 29 games to this point. Hendrix Lapierre will serve in his place, and Jakub Vrana returns to the lineup after ten straight games as a healthy scratch. Lapierre and Vrana will join Lars Eller on Washington’s third line this evening. Mangiapane came over to Washington in a summer trade with the Calgary Flames and has six goals and four assists on the season.

Devils Activate Nathan Bastian From Long-Term Injured Reserve

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The Devils announced Tuesday that they’ve activated right-winger Nathan Bastian from long-term injured reserve. After recalling goaltender Isaac Poulter earlier this morning, New Jersey had a full active roster, so they reassigned right-winger Nathan Legare to AHL Utica in a corresponding transaction.

Bastian, 27, has not played since sustaining a jaw injury in a fight with Flames left-winger Ryan Lomberg on Nov. 1. The Devils retroactively placed him on LTIR on Nov. 18, per the league’s media site, removing him from the active roster and giving themselves a little extra spending flexibility in the process with the physical winger expected to miss more than the 10-game, 24-day minimum required.

It ended up being a 16-game, 39-day absence for Bastian, who will reprise a fourth-line role alongside Justin Dowling and Tomáš Tatar in his return tonight against the Maple Leafs, per the team’s Catherine Bogart. Before getting hurt, the 6’4″, 205-lb forward had two goals and three assists for five points in 12 games, averaging 10:29 per night.

The Devils are nearly $1MM over the cap after the trio of transactions today, so they’ve presumably shifted center Curtis Lazar and his $1MM cap hit from standard IR to LTIR to re-open their pool and remain compliant. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since late October and is out indefinitely after undergoing a procedure on his knee.

Bastian, a second-round Devils pick back in 2016, has played all but 12 of his 217 career NHL games in a New Jersey uniform. He was exposed in the 2021 expansion draft and claimed by the Kraken but ended up on waivers less than two months into his tenure with Seattle and was re-claimed by the Devils.

The Kitchener, Ontario, native is in the second season of the two-year, $2.7MM deal he signed to remain a Devil after being non-tendered in 2023. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Legare, 23, returns to Utica after appearing in his first three NHL contests this month. The 6’0″, 205-lb Montreal native logged a -1 rating, three shots, one block, and 12 hits while averaging 10:41 per game, although he’s still looking for his first NHL point.

A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019, Legare is already on his third NHL organization after being traded twice last season. He had three goals and 47 PIMs in 18 games with Utica before the call-up, and since his stay on the roster lasted less than 30 days and 10 games, he didn’t require waivers to head back to the minors.

East Notes: Lightning, Smith, Tokarski, Lazar

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The Lightning lost a pair of key players during today’s game against Vancouver.  Center Anthony Cirelli left with an injury in the first period while defenseman Erik Cernak only played one shift in the third period.  Speaking with reporters postgame including FanDuel Sports Network Florida’s Gabby Shirley (Twitter link), head coach Jon Cooper didn’t have an update on either player but added that they’ll know more on each of them on Monday.  Cirelli was averaging a point per game through his first 24 appearances heading into today’s action while Cernak had seven assists in his 24 outings.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • A day after sending Riley Stillman to the minors, the Hurricanes have found his replacement for the time being. The team announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Ty Smith from AHL Chicago.  The 24-year-old has been up multiple times with Carolina this season but has yet to play and will likely continue to serve in the seventh defenseman role while he’s on the roster.  Smith has three goals and four assists in seven games with the Wolves so far.
  • Still with the Hurricanes, they assigned goaltender Dustin Tokarski to Chicago, per the AHL’s transactions log. As has frequently been the case this season, this is merely a move to bank a bit of cap space and delay Tokarski’s waiver clock.  He’ll almost certainly be recalled before Tuesday’s game against San Jose.
  • While there has been some speculation that Devils center Curtis Lazar won’t return this season, that’s not believed to be the case, relays NJ Advance Media’s Gabriel Trevino (Twitter link). The veteran underwent left knee surgery at the end of October but no firm timeline was given for his return.  That said, GM Tom Fitzgerald mentioned recently that acquiring a fourth-line center was on his priority list before the trade deadline in March so even if the team still believes Lazar could return, it seems as if they intend to operate as if he won’t so that way, they’re still covered.

New Jersey Announces Several Roster Moves

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Before their game in a few days against the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes, the New Jersey Devils are adding more pieces to their roster. The organization announced they have placed Nathan Bastian on long-term injured reserve retroactive to November 1st, Curtis Lazar on injured reserve retroactive to October 27th, and has recalled Shane Bowers, Justin Dowling, Nolan Foote, and Nick DeSimone from their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.

None of the moves are shocking from the cap-conscious Devils who’ve been slowplaying Bastian and Lazar’s designation to capture more salary cap space for the trade deadline. With a projected deadline space of almost $10MM, New Jersey could place both players on their respective injury reserve designations and fill out the rest of the roster.

Bastian has the less serious injury of the two after sustaining a jaw injury during a fight with Calgary Flames forward Ryan Lomberg. He was originally expected to miss several weeks with the injury and if he’s fully recovered, can return on November 26th when the Devils take on the St. Louis Blues. The more serious injury concern lies in Lazar who may finish the year with only 12 games played after undergoing a procedure on his left knee keeping him out indefinitely.

Dowling is the only member of the call-up quartet that has already suited up for New Jersey this season. He was originally recalled to replace the lost minutes of Lazar and has tallied one assist in nine games while averaging 8:13 of ice time.

Foote was an obvious choice for a call-up as the former 27th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. He’s already accrued 23 games of NHL experience in his young career and was leading the AHL Comets in scoring this season with four goals and nine points in 12 games.

The other two recalls are largely AHL-bound veterans at this point in their respective careers although Bowers may carry some prospect pedigree as a first-round pick of the 2017 NHL Draft. He’s seen his scoring drop precipitously since transitioning to professional hockey in the 2018-19 season scoring a career-high 27 points for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2019-20. DeSimone, who reached a one-year extension with the Devils last season, has already been recalled this season but failed to register any games.

The downstream effects of the roster moves will be greatly felt in the AHL. The Comets have yet to earn a victory this season through 13 games and may have to play this weekend’s contests against the Syracuse Crunch and Rochester Americans without three of their top-10 scorers.

New Jersey’s Curtis Lazar Out Indefinitely After Knee Procedure

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The New Jersey Devils will be without a key bottom-six forward for the foreseeable future. The organization announced that Curtis Lazar is out indefinitely after undergoing a procedure on his left knee.

The team shared that Lazar sustained the injury in Sunday night’s win against the Anaheim Ducks. Expectations are that the Devils will utilize Justin Dowling to replace Lazar in the bottom six as the veteran center tallied one assist in his season debut yesterday.

Lazar has been a solid contributor for New Jersey since the organization acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks during the 2022-23 season. He skated in 71 games for the Devils last year scoring seven goals and 25 points while managing a +10 rating and racking up 179 hits.

His offensive play from last year hasn’t translated to the early part of this season but there are little expectations from a bottom-six forward. New Jersey has historically utilized Lazar for his defensive makeup with 62.1% of his shift starts coming in the defensive zone.

He’s responded well in the defensive zone with a 92.1% on-ice save percentage in all situations through 12 games — a slight uptick compared to his career average. The team will also have to look elsewhere for an experienced penalty killer with Lazar helping the Devils to their current 81.08% kill percentage.

Recovery from knee injuries typically takes a long time but the vagueness of New Jersey’s announcement clouds Lazar’s timeline. The team opted to use the word ’procedure’ rather than ’surgery’ indicating that Lazar didn’t have his knee opened up under the knife which would shorten his time on the shelf.

Snapshots: Drouin, Rempe, Lazar

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Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette is reporting that injured Colorado Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin is being upgraded to day-to-day, an indication that he could return to action soon. Drouin hasn’t dressed for a game since he suffered a lower-body injury in the first game of the season back on October 8th. The 29-year-old is reportedly still dealing with some pain but should be able to return when he is cleared to do so.

Colorado has not had issues putting the puck in the net this season. However, they are still without the services of several forwards and will be happy to have Drouin’s services when he gets back into the lineup.

In other notes from around the league:

  • The New York Rangers have reportedly recalled forward Matt Rempe from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL (as per AHL Transactions). The 22-year-old was assigned to the AHL on Friday and dressed in two games with Hartford, where he was held without a point and went -3. New York had lent Rempe to Hartford to try and get him more playing time, but with a matchup this week against the Washington Capitals, and more specifically, Tom Wilson, the Rangers opted to bring the big man back to the NHL.
  • New Jersey Devils forward Curtis Lazar left tonight’s game against the Anaheim Ducks and did not return (as per Mike Morreale of NHL.com). The 29-year-old collided with Ducks captain Radko Gudas when Gudas tried to execute an ill-timed hip check on Lazar, which resulted in an awkward-looking collision. Lazar appeared unable to put any weight on his left leg as he exited the game and did not return for the third period. He played just 4:40. In a post-game interview, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporter Gabriel Trevino that Lazar will miss some time.

Metropolitan Notes: Lazar, Marino, Kuraly

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The Devils will likely be without forward Curtis Lazar for the rest of the season after he sustained an upper-body injury in yesterday’s 4-3 win over the Senators, head coach Travis Green said (via James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now). Green confirmed that Lazar’s injury will make way for Shane Bowers to enter the lineup tonight against the Predators after being recalled from Utica earlier today.

Lazar will end his season with seven goals, 18 assists and 25 points in 71 games while averaging 12:23 per game with a +10 rating. His assists and points figures are both career-highs, adding some highlight to what’s transpired to be a journeyman career for the 2013 first-round pick. The 29-year-old was picked up from the Canucks at last year’s deadline and is in the second season of a three-year, $3MM deal signed with Vancouver in free agency in 2022. He did quite well at controlling possession quality in a shutdown role, maintaining a solid 51.1 xG%.

Elsewhere in the Metro:

  • New Jersey will also be without defenseman John Marino against Nashville, as the team’s Amanda Stein relays he remains out with an upper-body injury. He sustained the injury while fighting Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller in a game-opening line brawl last Wednesday and already missed yesterday’s contest against the Sens. Injuries have sidelined Marino, the Devils’ top right-shot defender with Dougie Hamilton out long-term, for five of their last 12 games. The shutdown blue-liner has been better offensively but worse defensively than last year, notching 25 points in 71 games but logging an xG% south of 50 for only the second time in his career. He has three seasons remaining on his contract at a $4.4MM cap hit, with an eight-team no-trade list that kicks in this summer.
  • The Blue Jackets have center Sean Kuraly back in the lineup today against the Hurricanes, per the team’s Jeff Svoboda. The news ends a few days of will-he-won’t-he from head coach Pascal Vincent and marks his first appearance since sustaining a lower-body injury against the Canadiens on March 12. Now in his third season in his native Ohio, Kuraly has nine goals and 17 points in 57 games this year while averaging 13:33 per game, down from the 15-plus minutes he’d averaged since arriving in Columbus in 2021.

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