The New Jersey Devils placed defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic on injured reserve Friday with an ankle injury and recalled defenseman Anton Silaev from the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League.

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Kovacevic’s placement is retroactive to Nov. 10, the night he was hurt in Winnipeg. This is the first NHL recall for Silaev, the 20-year-old the Devils drafted 10th overall in 2024. He will meet the Devils in Washington for Saturday’s game against the Capitals.

We shall see if he’ll make his NHL debut.

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Kovacevic Injury

Kovacevic left Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets late in the second period. His last shift ended at 15:36 of the period, when Jets defenseman Tyrel Bauer was called for interference on him. He went down awkwardly on his leg after a cross-check deep in the offensive zone. Kovacevic struggled to get on his feet under his own accord, but eventually did and went straight to the locker room in frustration. He did not return.

Earlier in the period, he picked up the primary assist on Cody Glass‘s tying goal at 1:58. He finished with 7:25 of ice time on 10 shifts.

He missed Thursday’s 5-2 win over Washington. That morning, head coach Sheldon Keefe said the injury was “not a day-to-day thing at this point” and that imaging would give them a clearer picture. Friday’s transaction was the first time the team called it an ankle injury. It had been listed as lower body.

The good news? It’s not his surgically repaired knee.

The Devils have not given a recovery timeline. A player on injured reserve can’t play in an NHL game for at least seven days. Because the placement is retroactive to Nov. 10, the earliest Kovacevic could be eligible is Tuesday, Nov. 17. The Devils’ next game after Saturday is Wednesday, Nov. 18, at home against the Montreal Canadiens.

This is another health setback for the 29-year-old, but he seemingly avoided worst casescenario. Kovacevic started 2026-27 on the injured non-roster list with a knee injury and was activated on Oct. 10. Last season he opened the year on long-term injured reserve for the knee, he played 34 games. This season he has two assists in 13 games and averages 14:40 of ice time and has been a steady presence in the defensive end alongside Declan Chisholm.

He is in the second year of a five-year, $20 million contract that carries a $4 million cap hit.

Who Silaev is

Silaev stands tall at 6-foot-7, 211-pound left-shot defenseman. Before coming to North America, he played 187 regular-season games over three seasons for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in the KHL, beginning at age 17, and had six goals and 20 assists.

He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Devils on June 1. It runs through 2028-29 with a $1.075 million cap hit. Silaev is waiver-exempt, which means the Devils can send him back to Utica at any time without exposing him to other teams.

The recall also took some cap work. Before calling up Silaev on Friday, the Devils moved defenseman Seamus Casey, who has a knee injury, to long-term injured reserve. Because Silaev was not on the roster when the Devils set their long-term injured reserve position, his recall counts against that relief at his average annual value of $1.925 million rather than his $1.075 million cap hit. That leaves New Jersey with $42,499 in cap space, which means any other addition would require a corresponding move.

The Devils sent him to Utica in their first round of training camp cuts in September. He has played in all 12 of the Comets’ games, with four assists, a plus-8 rating, two penalty minutes and 19 shots. That plus-8 is the best on the team. Three of the four assists came in the past week: two in Tuesday’s 4-0 win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and one on the only goal of Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Belleville.

Silaev’s defending has been the strongest part of his game with Utica. His size and skating let him close on attackers quickly and break up plays before they develop, and Utica coach Ryan Parent said Friday that he “takes care of the puck in his own zone” and “ends plays quickly.” He has also been trusted on the penalty kill, where his reach and stick have broken up passing lanes. The puck work is still coming along. Silaev has gotten more comfortable moving the puck and handling forechecking pressure than he was in the KHL, though he still holds onto it a little long at times, which Sheldon Keefe pointed out in the preseason. He jumps into the rush more often than he carries the puck himself, and he’s been shooting more lately, which shows up in his last week: three assists in two games, two of them coming off point shots.

Utica is 10-2-0 and has won six straight. The Comets have allowed 24 goals, 2.00 per game, which ties the Laval Rocket for the fewest per game in the AHL. Offense has not been Silaev’s selling point, and he has no goals in 12 games. His size, reach and skating are what got him drafted in the top 10, and Keefe focused on his ability to end plays defensively when he assessed him during the preseason.

What it means for Saturday

The right side of the Devils’ defense is the thin part. Brett Pesce missed Thursday’s game with an illness and is listed as day-to-day. Seamus Casey is on the injured non-roster list. Against the Capitals on Thursday, Dougie Hamilton was the only right-shot defenseman in the lineup.

Silaev doesn’t fix that, because he shoots left. So does Vladislav Kolyachonok, who was called up Thursday and scored the go-ahead goal in his Devils debut, playing 14:36 next to Brenden Dillon. Thursday’s other pairs were Jonas Siegenthaler with Luke Hughes and Declan Chisholm with Hamilton.

The Devils haven’t announced Saturday’s lineup. If Pesce is healthy, New Jersey has eight defensemen for six spots, and Silaev or Kolyachonok is the likeliest scratch. If Pesce is still out, Silaev gives Keefe a seventh defenseman. The Devils used seven in Toronto on Nov. 8 and in Winnipeg on Nov. 10.

Connor Hellebuyck is set to start the second half of the home-and-home. The Devils confirmed Thursday morning that he would start both games, and he stopped 26 of 28 shots Thursday to improve to 6-0-0 with New Jersey.

The Devils are 14-6-0 with 28 points, second in the Metropolitan Division and four points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who have also played 20 games. Washington is 10-7-0 with 20 points in 17 games. New Jersey lost 4-2 on its first trip to Washington on Oct. 17.