The New Jersey Devils are the skating wounded in their first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes. None of their top six defensive options are even remotely healthy. Coming into the series, they were without Jonas Siegenthaler. Then, they lost Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon in the same game. Siegenthaler returned in Game 3 miraculously, but they ended up losing Johnny Kovacevic that game for reasons we still don't understand. Meanwhile, Dougie Hamilton came back from his injury in Game 82 of the season.
It's been a defensive unit that's held together by Scotch tape and chewed bubble gum. And now, things could go from mind-bogglingly bad to almost impossibly bad.
If the Devils play without Brett Pesce and Siegenthaler in Game 5, an elimination game for the Devils, then they will only have two sure-thing NHL players playing on defense. The current projected lineup without Pesce and Siegenthaler would have a combined 131 games played this season... in the AHL. This is a minor league defense looking to save the Devils' season.
Dennis Cholowski - Dougie Hamilton
Brian Dumoulin - Colton White
Seamus Casey - Simon Nemec
We advocated for Seamus Casey to get a shot in Game 5, but not like this. This is putting the cattle out for slaughter. We're pretty sure the Chicago Blackhawks had a better defense at times this season.
But what can Sheldon Keefe realistically do? Everything has gone wrong for the Devils' defense this season. Heck, even Santeri Hatakka, who has been a serviceable NHL defenseman in the past, seems to have left the Devils to go play in Sweden next season. They could have sorely used him right now, even though he hasn't played an NHL game this season.
The Devils have an extended roster, and they still might have seven "healthy" defensemen who could theoretically play an NHL game. If Pesce and Siegenthaler miss Game 5, that means Sheldon Keefe is playing down five defensemen. This should be as deep a defensive unit, with Casey and Nemec avalable to rotate in when the team needs more offense, but instead, it's all hands on deck.
Injuries are a part of hockey, but this is extreme. The Devils need to investigate how this happened. Why are so many injuries impacting this roster at the worst possible time?
That's a question for the offseason. For now, do what it takes to survive. The Hurricanes are playing without their starting goalie. Maybe it takes complete chaos and a 6-5 score to win. Whatever it takes, the Devils must throw the kitchen sink at the Hurricanes. If it doesn't work, the result would be the same anyway.