The New Jersey Devils announced they have placed defenceman Matt Tennyson on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
New Jersey has placed D Matt Tennyson (upper body) on injured reserve, retro to 12/3/19 vs. Vegas.
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 5, 2019
Matt Tennyson Injured
During the Devils 4-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, Tennyson was injured. The injury occurred in the first period as Tennyson took a hit from William Carrier of the Golden Knights. Tennyson went down the tunnel and did not return to the hockey. For the remainder of the game against the Golden Knights, the Devils were short a defenceman. He had logged just 3:23 of ice time.
Since being called up after Connor Carrick‘s injury back on October 14th, Tennyson has been in and out of the lineup. Through 19 games this season with the Devils, Tennyson has three assists. He is currently stuck in a 15-game pointless streak and has been a healthy scratch three times since being called up.
Going Forward
With Tennyson’s injury, the door is open for Carrick’s return to the lineup. Carrick has been on injured reserve since October 14th when he had surgery to repair a broken finger. In four games this season Carrick has one assist. New Jersey gave him a new two-year contract in the off-season and value Carrick as a guy who can play on their third pairing. Carrick has been skating on his own and was a full participant in practice on Thursday for the Devils. Another option back on defence is Mirco Mueller. Mueller is another player like Tennyson who has been in and out of the lineup. Most recently Mueller has been a healthy scratch.
The Devils defence has been an area of weakness this season. It is an area general manager Ray Shero and new head coach Alain Nasreddine will have to address going forward. While the team looked better under Nasreddine, after replacing John Hynes, who was fired, on Tuesday night, they have a long way to go to get back to where they want to be.
The Devils also received good news on offence as well as rookie Jack Hughes returned to practice. He had missed the last several games with a lower-body injury.
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