The New Jersey Devils are making another defensive shuffle, and this one starts with Johnathan Kovacevic heading to injured reserve.
On Friday, Nov. 13, the team announced that Kovacevic has been placed on IR retroactive to Nov. 10 because of an ankle injury. In the same move, the Devils recalled Anton Silayev from their American Hockey League affiliate in Utica.
Kovacevic got hurt in Tuesday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. He logged only 7:25 of ice time, but still managed to pick up an assist before leaving the game. Afterward, the Devils said he would undergo imaging to evaluate the injury, and head coach Sheldon Keefe said Thursday that he would have a better sense of the severity today.
The IR designation suggests Kovacevic is going to miss more than a short stretch. That matters for New Jersey, because he has been a key piece of the blue line this season.
The Devils were already stretched thin on defense Thursday when Brett Pesce was unavailable because of illness. With only five defensemen to work with, they brought up Vladislav Kolyachonok from Utica. He hadn’t appeared in an NHL game since Dec. 2025, but he handled third-pairing duty well and even scored his first goal as a Devil.
Silayev’s recall looks like a precautionary move, but it also gives the Devils another big body to lean on if needed. He was the club’s first-round pick, 10th overall, in the 2024 NHL Draft, and he spent the two seasons after being drafted in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia.
This is his first season in the Devils’ system, and he has played 12 games for Utica, posting four assists. At 6-foot-7, he brings a physical presence and isn’t shy about using it, something New Jersey may want against a team like the Washington Capitals.
Silayev and Kolyachonok have formed Utica’s top defensive pair, and it will be worth watching whether Sheldon Keefe keeps them together if Silayev gets into the lineup Saturday. Kolyachonok skated with Brenden Dillon on Thursday, but the Devils could choose a different look.
New Jersey finishes the second half of its home-and-home against Washington on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 PM ET.
In Other News...
Ovechkins Slump Is Raising A Bigger Capitals Question
Alexander Ovechkins start has become one of the more notable subplots around the Capitals, even as the team has found more scoring balance elsewhere. Through 17 games, he has managed only one goal, a sharp departure from the production Washington has come to expect from its captain and franchise centerpiece. The drop has come with fewer attempts and a slightly different usage pattern, as the Capitals lean on a deeper group of forwards and adjust how they deploy him on special teams.
For a player whose career has long been defined by runs of hot finishing, the larger concern is less about one cold stretch than what it says about the teams offensive identity moving forward. Ovechkin has a history of turning things around, and Washington has every reason to believe the goals can still come. Even so, the way his role has shifted is worth watching, because it hints at a Capitals offense that may no longer revolve around the same familiar script. [Read more 🡒]