Bobby Holik is now out for up to a month with a broken pinky and Brian Rolston remains sidelined with a high ankle sprain. The absence of both forwards forced the Devils to make a move, and yesterday they called up enforcer Pierre-Luc Leblond.
Leblond, who arrived with eight stitches above his left eye from a fight on Friday in Lowell, is here just in time for tomorrow’s game against Dallas – and its new forward, Sean Avery.
“That hasn’t even been a consideration,” Devils coach Brent Sutter said of Avery playing against the Devils. “It wasn’t even thought about.”
Avery, formerly of the Rangers, was a huge headache last season when he frustrated the Devils and Martin Brodeur, in particular.
“It’s a different team and a different year for us,” said Brodeur, who refused to shake Avery’s hand following the Rangers-Devils first-round playoff series after Avery called him “fatso” and went so far in trying to disrupt Brodeur by standing directly in front of him and waving his stick. That forced the league to come up with a new rule prohibiting those tactics.
At the time, the goalie actually credited Avery for being successful in his efforts. “For us, it’s just another game,” he said.
Leblond impressed the Devils during camp, as well as in the minors. He went toe-to-toe with Washington’s Donald Brashear in the preseason.
“He played very well for us here,” Lou Lamoriello said. “He gives us size and strength, which we lost with Bobby.”
Holik will have surgery today and won’t be back for at least three weeks, while tests on Rolston’s ankle came back negative. There is no timetable for his return.
Leblond understands his role. “If I don’t play physical, I don’t feel like I played a game,” he said, adding that he was unaware that Avery was on the team he would be making his NHL debut against. “I don’t think about that.”