New Jersey Devils defenseman Mirco Mueller has been ruled out with a broken clavicle. Per Andrew Gross of the Record, he is slated to get surgery this week with no timetable for a return.
This is a continuation of the injury bug for New Jersey that has seen injuries to Travis Zajac (returning this week), Kyle Palmieri, Marcus Johansson, and Brian Boyle. Mirco Mueller is the latest name to catch the bug.
He was acquired this offseason from the San Jose Sharks. He’s had an up and down start to his Devils career. Appearing in 13 games Mueller averaged just over 17 minutes of ice time a game and had been rotating between a second and third pair role. Mueller had arguably his best performance of the year against Florida in a 2-1 victory before being injured against Chicago.
He was quick on the puck and was making clean breakout passes while logging over 18 minutes of ice time against Florida. With the severity of the fracture unknown the Devils could be without Mueller anywhere from 4-8 weeks.
Who Steps Up?
The Devils have carried eight defensemen the entire year and it appears like the move was a smart one at this point. It looks likely the Ben Lovejoy will step into a 3rd pair role with rookie Will Butcher. In his extremely limited appearances Lovejoy has looked good this year.
Paired with Will Butcher, he may be the stay at home defensive presence that allows Butcher to expand his game. The alternative is that Dalton Prout sees an increased role. I expect Lovejoy will get the first crack at the lineup and it will be his spot to lose, but Prout could see more time.
Michael Kapla seems like the most likely option if a call-up is necessary but with Lovejoy and Prout that seems extremely unlikely.
Next: New Jersey Devils: Something Needs to Change Defensively
Outside Options
With Travis Zajac returning to the lineup, the Devils have some nice forward depth. Ray Shero shows he’s not scared to pull the trigger on a major deal. He’s even willing to trade core players. With Adam Henrique currently occupying a 3rd line role and Pavel Zacha on the 4th, the Devils have the assets to acquire a top 4 defenseman.
While making a major trade is unlikely it’s not out of the picture.
My expectation is that we’ll see plenty of Ben Lovejoy in a 3rd pair role while Mueller recovers.