New Jersey’s lousy start to the season got worse on Wednesday as the club put it’s highest-profile free agent signing, Ryane Clowe, on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 13.
Clowe, who suffered a headache after taking an elbow against Winnipeg on Sunday, will miss the Devils’ next two games -- Thursday against Ottawa and Saturday against the New York Rangers.
“He got hit with a pretty good elbow in the third period and continued to play,” Devils GM Lou Lamoriello explained. “We just maybe overreacted to it, but when somebody’s had a history, we don’t want to take any chances.”
Lamoriello is referring to last season, when Clowe missed the last game of the regular season and 10 playoff games with a concussion. The injury kept him off the ice for quite some time, and he was only greenlit to return to playing in late June.
A few days later, the Devils signed Clowe to a massive five-year, $24.25 million deal. He’s proceeded to appear in six games thus far but has struggled, registering just one assist while posting a minus-5 rating as the Devils have started the year 0-3-3.
Replacing Clowe on the active roster will be forward Mattias Tedenby, who has been activated from the injured non-roster list.