Devils News
Key Devils Forward Injury More Serious Than Initial Diagnosis; Gritsyuk Elevated
After an initial x-ray did not reveal a fracture to the hand of Evgenii Dadonov, a follow-up shows a more serious injury.
When the New Jersey Devils took the ice for morning skate ahead of their tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was a small dose of bad news.
The Devils revealed that forward, Evgenii Dadonov, was missing from practice. It was later revealed he has a fracture in his hand and he will miss some time. The initial diagnosis on Thursday was that an initial X-Ray revealed no fracture. However, a second look found one.
Keefe explained Dadonov is unavailable for the remainder of the three-game road trip, is going to return to New Jersey for further evaluation, and a timeline is to be determined for his injury.
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Dadonov went missing from the Devils game on Thursday near the end of the third period against the Hurricanes.
As a result, coach Sheldon Keefe appears to be deploying Ondrej Palat on the first line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt again. It’s a familiar line for Keefe, one he deployed for most of last season.
The injury to Dadonov opens up two spots in the lineup. With Palat elevated to the first line, Keefe moved Arseny Gritsyuk up from the fourth line right wing position, to third-line left wing.
Gritsyuk brings a boost of offense to the defensively responsible Cody Glass and Connor Brown.
That paves the way for newcomer, Zack MacEwen, to skate on the Devils’ fourth line with Paul Cotter and Luke Glendening.
MacEwen gives the Devils’ fourth line a bit of a different look. Unlike Kurtis MacDermind, MacEwen is an average NHL skater, has a touch of offense, and—similar to MacDermid—is certainly willing to mix it up and drop the mitts.
The Devils drop the puck tonight against the Lightning at 7:00 PM at Amalie Arena with the tweak to their forward group.
