Hamilton: I'm Ready to Play | INJURY REPORT

Dougie Hamilton is ready to play and is expected to be in the Devils lineup for Thursday's away game against the Penguins.
"I'm looking forward to him being back in the lineup," Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said. "I'm counting on him being in. I've had a conversation with him, he said he's ready to go and we're ready to put him back in."
After seven weeks without playing in a game, Hamilton is ready to get back in there and contribute.
"It's always really hard to watch. You want to be out there through the good and the bad and going through everything with your teammates. So it's hard to be on the outside looking in," Hamilton said. "Just for me, I'm excited to get back and playing."

One aspect Hamilton has worked on with his return was finding the right equipment to protect his jaw and allow him to be comfortable playing.
"It's changed because of the healing of my jaw. At the start I couldn't have any pressure on it so I had to find something that had the pressure off it, but I couldn't play with that mask. I think it's at the point now where my jaw is solid and I'm able to put a pad on my chin and use that mask," Hamilton said. "I think there's three, four different masks, and then just tweaking them and trying different things with those and different pads. I'm very thankful for the equipment trainers for working with me and helping me."
Throughout Tuesday's practice, Hamilton was paired with Jonas Siegenthaler. Coach Ruff said the defensive pairing change was to help Hamilton and set him up for success in his first game since Jan. 2.
"Siegenthaler has been one of our top defenders on the left side, (this decision is) probably to give him some help at the same time, give him a real solid guy, that's been a guy we've counted on in every situation," Ruff said. "Trying to supply a little support. Hamilton's wearing a full shield and we don't know how he's going to be. So part of that is probably putting him in the best place where he thinks he can succeed."
Hamilton also practiced with the second power play unit Tuesday, giving the defenseman reps at special teams. Prior to his injury, Hamilton was on the first power play unit, and currently has seven power play points through 30 games played (2G, 5A).
When asked about what went into the decision to finally say he was ready to come back, Hamilton discussed working with his doctors to decide when was right.
"Talking to the doctors and surgeon and everything it's my proper healing time," Hamilton said. "I don't know if I'll feel normal for awhile but there's still some things that could take weeks, months, but I think it's at the point now where it's safe to play … now that I got that green light it's nice to have that and I'm ready to start playing again."