The New Jersey Devils are preparing to get back into action after the 4 Nations Face-Off break over. They are facing the Dallas Stars on Saturday evening, and they are hoping to get some reinforcements back. Nico Hischier appears to be fully healthy after missing time with an oblique injury. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Erik Haula are expected to be back after representing their respective countries.
One player who could surprisingly return is goaltender Jacob Markstrom. He suffered a scary knee injury against the Boston Bruins on January 22nd. Justin Brazeau went full speed into Markstrom's legs, and his leg got caught on the post and bent in a direction that made us all cringe. Luckily, he escaped with just a knee sprain, but he was still expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
That was less than a month ago. We are approaching the short end of the timeline, but there's no reason to bring Markstrom back right now. Even if he's "fully" healthy, the Devils should spend this time building his knee up, allow him to get up to speed, and then bring him back to the lineup. It might even be worthwhile to get Markstrom a conditioning start with the Utica Comets.
The Devils are just fine with Jake Allen in net. He's helped keep the Devils afloat with Markstrom out. They do have a back-to-back immediately out of the break, so we can understand if the Devils felt pressure to get Markstrom back, but they can either play Allen in both games after a long break or play Nico Daws. They have options without forcing Markstrom to get back at four weeks.
The New Jersey Devils have no reason to start Jacob Markstrom this early after his recovery
If the Devils can hold off bringing Markstrom back until March 7th, it would give him until the end of his recovery timeline and ensure a full recovery process. They also have a torrid stretch there they have just one day of recovery for six games in a row. That gives him time to build momentum going into the home stretch of the regular season, and they can keep Allen warm during those games as well.
The Devils need to treat this with kid gloves. Allow this to fully vest. The Devils currently have an eight-point lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets and a 10-point lead on the New York Rangers. Yes, that can evaporate quickly if they lose every game, but that's not likely with Hischier back in the lineup and a quality backup in Allen.
The Devils are in good hands and the break was good to put the months of January and February in the back burner. It's time to really focus on what's next, and that's establishing themselves as a contender.