Pucks and Pitchforks
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New Jersey Devils Have An Injury Problem Early In The Season

By Vincent Parise

NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 18: New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider (35) makes a save during the first period of the First Round Stanley Cup Playoff Game 4 between the New Jersey Devils and the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 18, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 18: New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider (35) makes a save during the first period of the First Round Stanley Cup Playoff Game 4 between the New Jersey Devils and the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 18, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils are off to a pretty good start. Even with some rough play and losses in their last two, they are still 4-2 and everyone is contributing. However, there seems to be an injury bug inside the dressing room lately.

Last season’s return to the postseason was helped by the lack of injury. Taylor Hall had a hand injury that cost him a few games, but we know how that turned out okay for him. Nico Hischier played the season with a bum wrist and still turned in a fine rookie season, and Cory Schneider had some offseason surgery to fix an injury. Of course, Marcus Johansson missed most of the year with concussion issues thanks to Brad Marchand taking lessons from the Macho Man. Otherwise it was a pretty lucky year in terms of injury.

The same cannot be said so far this season. The Devils have had a bit of bad luck in the early stages of the season. It was announced on Tuesday that the team has placed Ben Lovejoy and Drew Stafford on injured reserve. They join Steven Santini and Jesper Bratt on the IR.

Cory Schneider was activated from IR and has made a rehab start with the Binghamton Devils, the Devils AHL affiliate. He is scheduled to make another rehab start on Wednesday, which takes away a possibility of a return on Thursday vs Nashville, but Saturday vs Florida is still in play.

Travis Zajac missed the most recent game vs Philadelphia with a lower body injury sustained in the previous game vs the Colorado Avalanche. He was never placed on injured reserve meaning that it likely isn’t serious and could be back as soon as Thursday.

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So what do the Devils do in the meantime if some key guys are out? Well the obvious answer is that this is where depth is tested, and some others need to step up. None of the Devils three best scorers have any current ailments, so the depth is where the Devils will need someone to produce more.

The Devils called up Kevin Rooney and Egor Yakovlev from Binghamton on Monday, and announced on Tuesday that they are bringing up John Quenneville and Eric Gryba. These are some of the guys that will need to play well in the absence of their injured teammates. The top teams in the league all have injuries, and what separates them from the lower teams is their ability to adapt to adversity. You would really like to see young guys come up and be impact players, as the Devils have many of those guys in the organization that they are hopeful will do just that.

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