Although they will be without superstar forward Jack Hughes for the foreseeable future due to a finger injury and subsequent surgery, the New Jersey Devils are getting back an important trio of offensive players to help mitigate and cope with the huge loss.
On Tuesday, ahead of the Devils' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was announced that forwards Connor Brown (upper-body) and Evgenii Dadonov (hand) had been activated from injured reserve and long-term injured reserve, respectively, adding some juice to the innards of the Devils' lineup.
And, in addition to those two, top defenseman Dougie Hamilton returns for his first game since Nov. 6, ending a four-game absence. Just about everyone had been enjoying Simon Nemec mania in the interim, but it is far more important to have the depth, especially with an offensively inclined player like Hamilton, in the long-term absence of Hughes.
With Brown, Dadonov, and Hamilton back from injury, the Devils are about halfway to the end of the tunnel as far as injuries go. Hughes, of course, should return sometime close to either side of the New Year, while Cody Glass is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Zack MacEwen's status is currently unclear, though Brett Pesce, who has not played since Oct. 26th, is nearing a month on the shelf. Assuming a 4-to-6 week timeline, it is likely that Pesce could be back for the Devils sooner than later at this point.
Excluding Johnathan Kovacevic, who was always expected to miss several months, the Devils have quietly survived the worst of their injury woes thus far, though Hughes will be a whole new challenge in and of itself.
On the bright side, though, the Devils are better equipped to handle that now than they were at the time the injury happened.