Birthday Surprise
Monday was Daniil Misyul’s 24th birthday. And his present was a call-up to the National Hockey League.
“A great birthday present,” he said in the locker room following Monday’s practice, his first with the team.
A great birthday present, and possibly a great opportunity. The Devils also re-assigned blueliner Seamus Casey to Utica of the American Hockey League. And with head coach Sheldon Keefe saying that injured defensemen Brett Pesce (ankle) and Luke Hughes (shoulder) will not play against Tampa Bay Tuesday night, that means Misyul is one of the team’s six healthy defensemen. Which also means, he would likely be making his NHL debut.
“It’s a good opportunity for me, a good chance. I’m excited,” the Belarus native said. “I need to play hard every shift, hard, smart and simple.”
Though Keefe has only been with the organization since the summer and has only seen one preseason game of Misyul, he noted that management is really high on his attributes.
“When it comes to a decision like this, he’s a guy (management) wants to get a look at at the NHL level,” Keefe said. “He fits the profile. A bigger body, he’s a left shot.”
As for Casey, the decision wasn’t a knock on his play. Casey scored three goals and four points in eight games with the Devils this season, but was having issues adapting to the demands of an NHL schedule and was seeing limited ice time. The re-assignment was made to help Casey’s development.
“In terms of Casey the decision was made to get him down to Utica, get him comfortable and rolling there,” Keefe said. “He’s filled an incredible role for us. He did a great job, really helped us in the early going with the injuries that we’ve had. To be able to overcome that and be off to a decent start as a group is a credit to Seamus and the job that he’s done. He’s scored big goals, made big plays for us.
“But for a young defenseman like him it’s important to get down to the American League, really round out his game and be a big part of the team.”
