Devils Recall Goaltender from AHL, What it Means

The New Jersey Devils announced on Tuesday morning that goaltender Akira Schmid has been recalled from the American Hockey League.

The Devils found themselves in need of a goaltender, likely as a result of an injury to goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen on Sunday against the Nashville Predators.

Halfway through the first period, Kahkonen fell to the butterfly position to make a save on a shot by Roman Josi that wound up trickling over the Devils’ goal line. The Finnish goaltender stayed down following the attempted save with an injury and wound up exiting the game.

Jake Allen entered in relief for Kahkonen.

After the Devils’ 3-2 shootout loss, interim head coach Travis Green did not have an encouraging update on Kahkonen.

“Yeah, he’s not doing great right now,” Green explained when asked about Kahkonen’s health status. “So we’ll see. We’ll reevaluate him tomorrow.”

Tomorrow came and went and evidently, the prognosis wasn’t good. At least, not good enough to let him dress on Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Kahkonen is dealing with a lower-body injury, according to the interim head coach.

The last time Green explained a player was “not great” in terms of an injury, he was informing the media in New Jersey that forward Curtis Lazar was likely to miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season with an upper-body injury.

In five games with New Jersey since he was acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline, Kahkonen accrued a 1-3-0 record, 2.92 GAA and .918 SV%.

Schmid returns to New Jersey following some recent strong play with the AHL Utica Comets. Despite his less-than-ideal 3.12 GAA and .891 SV% in 20 games with the Comets, Schmid has won five of his six last starts.

In that span, Schmid has only allowed 12 goals on 149 shots, a more respectable 2.00 GAA.

The Devils face the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at 7 P.M.

Akira Schmid will join the Devils earlier for morning skate.

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