The New Jersey Devils got more bad injury news on Saturday night. Early in the second period of the game against the Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler blocked a Filip Hronek one-timer and broke his foot. With Siegenthaler now down in addition to Dougie Hamilton, the Devils now find themselves without their entire top defense pairing until the spring, at the earliest.
Consequentially, this also means a new defense partner for rookie sensation Simon Nemec. The Devils have Brendan Smith, Kevin Bahl, and Luke Hughes on their roster, and Smith has been playing as a fourth-line forward lately. Given how little Max Willman played in his last stint in New Jersey, would the Devils move Smith back to defense and effectively roll three lines? With their already depleted forward core, the Devils can't afford to do that. Unless the Devils make a trade immediately, they will need to call someone up, if only to have an extra body on defense.
#5. Daniil Misyul, Utica Comets
If the team wishes to continue to give their prospects a chance and build toward the future, calling up Daniil Misyul would be conducive to that. The 23-year-old is actually in the midst of his first season of North American hockey. Before this year, Misyul spent parts of five seasons playing in the KHL. During his time there, Misyul scored only five times in 184 games but has three goals in 27 games with the Utica Comets this year. The Devils' 2019 third-round pick profiles as a defense-first defenseman who is physical, skates extremely well and excels in transition. Those are three things this team needs with Siegenthaler on the shelf.
Calling up Misyul depends greatly on how well Kevin Dineen and Dan MacKinnon feel the defenseman has adjusted to the North American game. If the Russian blueliner passes the eye test, the Devils can consider themselves lucky enough to welcome another young, exciting prospect to their blueline.