Only days after getting him back from an injury, the New Jersey Devils are going to be down yet another forward with Zack MacEwen getting put right back on the shelf.
MacEwen, 29, suffered an injury in his season debut and Devils debut against the Tampa Bay Lightning back on Oct. 11. He returned against the New York Islanders on Nov. 10 after a month out, then went down again in the Devils' 4-3 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
MacEwen took a hard hit behind the net and was clearly shaken up. He attempted to finish his shift, but the second he went to the bench, he raced down the tunnel for treatment. That was in the first period, and it was the last time we saw him on the bench.
Center Cody Glass, too, suffered an injury, so the Devils are without perhaps two of their most impressive bottom-six forwards indefinitely.
As a result, the Devils placed MacEwen on injured reserve - again - and called up forward Nathan Legare from the AHL Utica Comets to temporarily take his place on the roster.
The New Jersey Devils put Zack MacEwen on IR, showing he's going to be out for an extended period of time
Notably, the Devils opted for Legare over Comets teammate Brian Halonen, who played for the Devils in the NHL earlier this season and scored his first NHL goal against Los Angeles on Nov. 1.
Hopes for Halonen sticking at the NHL level are not all that high anymore, given the lack of trust from head coach Sheldon Keefe, reflected in his ice time, and the fact that he turns 27 in January.
As for Legare, he is a bit younger, still just 24 years old, and a former third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins taken in the same draft as Jack Hughes and Arseny Gritsyuk. Stylistically, Legare is similar to MacEwen, and it makes perfect sense that the Devils would try to get a look at a younger player who can potentially play that role for them in the future or in the case of injury. This season, Legare has one goal and no assists in 11 games for the Utica Comets.
Now that he is back on injured reserve, MacEwen will be out of commission for the Devils for at least seven days. However, the way things have been going, we expect it to be longer.