The New Jersey Devils are opening training camp in a non-ideal position with multiple starters missing time. Luke Hughes is still unsigned and is missing camp, which really isn’t ideal. We learned on Thursday that Stefan Noesen is going to miss an undisclosed amount of time after he had a procedure on his groin. We also learned a new timetable for Johnny Kovacevic, which lines up with what we expected.
Kovacevic hurt his knee in the playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes. Last month, we predicted that the injury was going to keep him out until at least January, giving Simon Nemec plenty of time to secure his NHL role and the Devils plenty of cap space to re-sign Luke Hughes before making a trade to move salaries.
On Thursday, GM Tom Fitzgerald confirmed that it’s likely we won’t see number eight in a Devils’ uniform until the calendar turns to 2026.
Tom Fitzgerald says Johnny Kovacevic may not be back before January.
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) September 18, 2025
"We might not see him before the New Year."#NJDevils
Kovacevic was a huge surprise last season, going from low-level trade piece in the offseason to major cog in the defense. A pre-season injury to Brett Pesce gave him an opportunity to start right away, and his chemistry with fellow defensive defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler was off the charts. They were considered the best defensive pair in the league for the first half of the season.
He was even remarkably healthy for the regular season. He was one of the only players on the team to play more than 80 games last year.
That obviously won’t happen in 2025-26. Fitzgerald said that Kovacevic probably won’t be back until after the New Year. That means Kovacevic is missing at least three more months.
The Devils are lucky to have Simon Nemec and Seamus Casey on the right side to fill in for Kovacevic. Honestly, Kovacevic might get extra time to recover if Nemec is playing as well as we hope. It all depends on how the season goes. For now, Kovacevic is going to be off the ice for a long time.