The New Jersey Devils recalled two players today from the minor leagues, and now we know why. Not only are Ryan Graves and Nico Hischier in the COVID protocol, but Christian Jaros has joined them. Yegor Sharangovich has also been held out of practice as a precaution, despite testing negative so far according to team reporter Amanda Stein. Marian Studenic and Kevin Bahl were the recalls, as the team deals with this new outbreak.
New Jersey has now watched the Calgary Flames enter a team shutdown, after six of their players (plus one member of the training staff) enter the protocol in a period of 24 hours. That is not what has happened yet to the Devils, meaning they are still scheduled to take on the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night, but it is a situation that will be closely monitored by the league.
It’s not an easy time to lose several players, given the Devils are 2-6-2 in their last ten and falling further down the Metropolitan standings. The team was expected to be competitive this season, even if their overall ceiling is likely not that of a Stanley Cup contender just yet. Now sitting at 10-11-5 on the year and with several key players out, they’ll have to work even harder to keep up with the surging Pittsburgh Penguins and consistent Columbus Blue Jackets, who now sit eight and four points ahead of them respectively.
Jaros, 25, has played in three games for the Devils this season and just one since being activated from injured reserve last week. The depth defenseman is obviously not an integral piece of the puzzle in New Jersey, but was the first in line to take over for Graves when he was ruled out. Now it will be Bahl, who could line up beside P.K. Subban in the team’s next game, according to Stein.