Undoubtedly, the New Jersey Devils suffered an impactful loss with the Evgenii Dadonov injury, but, unlike years past, they're built perfectly to survive this. Dadonov, 36, was placed on injured reserve Sunday with a fracture in his hand, and the Devils, in a corresponding move, brought up winger Brian Halonen from the AHL Utica Comets.
The real beneficiary from Dadonov's injury, though? That's none other than Arseny Gritsyuk, who has already moved up in the lineup as a result and made his mark almost immediately.
With Ondrej Palat moving up to the Devils' first line alongside Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes, Gritsyuk, 24, assumed Palat's position on the third line next to Cody Glass and Connor Brown. The result in Saturday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning was two primary assists - the first two points of Gritsyuk's NHL career - on Brown's first two goals as a Devils player.
The affable Russian prospect still has a ways to go in terms of earning the trust of Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe; he's played exactly 16 shits in each of his first two NHL games and was a -2 against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the regular season in just 9:52 of ice time.
The New Jersey Devils will miss Evgenii Dadonov, but Arseny Gritsyuk can fill the void
That said, Gritsyuk's skating, creativity, and offensive talents are undeniable and were apparent all throughout training camp and the preseason.
Dadonov's placement on injured reserve rules him out for at least seven days, but, given the nature of the injury, he's likely to miss several weeks, if not a month or longer, depending on the severity and location of the fracture.
That allows Gritsyuk plenty of time to continue to acclimate to his Devils teammates, travel in the NHL, and North America in general. Once he gets comfortable, it's certainly possible that Gritsyuk could move all the way up to the first line with Hughes and Bratt, as Keefe had previewed once already in the preseason.