Devils Back on the Ice After Two Days Off | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are back on the ice after two days off and are preparing for a three-game road trip that will take the club to Florida to face the Lightning and Panthers and then to Boston to face the Bruins.

Absent from Tuesday's practice was Jack Hughes and Ondrej Palat, both continuing to deal with their respective injuries, so in order to round out enough players for a lineup, the Devils made several call ups who were on the ice at practice. 

Shane Bowers and Cal Foote were called up from Utica on Tuesday morning, while Max Willman joined the team over the weekend ahead of their game against the Canucks.

For more from today's practice, check out today's Devils Notebook!

A Lengthy Update

As the injury list grows longer for the New Jersey Devils, so does the amount of time it takes for head coach Lindy Ruff to provide updates on all his players. On Tuesday after practice, Ruff provided the following updates on his players:

On Jack Hughes: 

“Jack’s case is going to be weeks, not months. We’ll evaluate him just week-to-week. I think we all have to look at that as good news, so, just keep evaluating week-to-week and see how he progresses.”

On players like Ondrej Palat, Tomas Nosek and Timo Meier:

“We don’t expect them back short-term. Probably the closest guy that is moving along is Timo (Meier). So we will just keep evaluating that, those guys on a daily basis."

More from Ruff on Timo Meier: 

“He’s been skating on his own in a limited fashion. He hasn’t had any practice time with us, and we’ll continue that. As soon as he gets to where he thinks he can practice with us which I think is in the ‘sooner rather than later’ category.”

Without Siegs

Jonas Siegenthaler was placed on Injured Reserve this morning, as the Devils injury list continues to extend. Siegenthaler blocked a shot early in the second period against the Vancouver Cancuks and head coach Lindy Ruff shared after the game that Siegenthaler had a broken foot.

In a complementary move, the club recalled defenseman Cal Foote, as well as forward Shane Bowers.

Providing as best an update as he could given the injury, here's what Lindy Ruff had to say about his recovery timeline. 

“When you break a foot, the timeline is going to be week-to-week, a lot of times that type of injury you can get to a certain stage and maybe three-week stage and start feeling pretty good. That’s probably all I can give you.”

There is synergy between the AHL and NHL club, as the Comets try to stick to a similar system in the AHL to that of the one in New Jersey to best prepare players for when they receive their chance at the National Hockey League level. While it's not identical, the similar traits can make for a much smoother process for a player getting their first crack with the Devils. 

"We have a lot of similar systems with the D-zone, the forecheck and stuff like that,” Bowers said,  "Obviously the Devils are a fast team and I think this system is kind of built off playing with speed and playing fast, we’ve been trying to do a lot of that down in Utica. I’m just trying to implement that into my game."

“We run the same system," Foote added, "I think it’s to make it easy for the transition to come up and help this team win. It’s smothering the corner and the forwards are helping the D and try to get the puck out as fast as we can.”

For Foote and Willman, both have already had previous call-ups with the club this season. Willman appeared in four games with the Devils earlier this year, Foote meanwhile played 50 NHL games last season split between the Lightning and Predators. 

"It’s been some time and might take a little bit to adjust to the speed and the caliber of players but I’ve been here before," Foote said after practice. "I’ve been up with this team and practicing and I’ve played in the past, so I know it’s coming and I’m ready for the challenge."

"I think just trying to use my speed on the forecheck and get in, bring energy," Willman shared, "Definitely just be responsible in our own end, and if I can chip in every now and then, it’s always a bonus."