Clarke, Tallackson called up

Depleted by injuries and illness, the Devils called up forwards Noah Clarke and Barry Tallackson from Lowell of AHL on an emergency basis today and both players practiced with the team this morning at Prudential Center.

It looks like at least one of the two will dress for Wednesday night's game against Florida with right wing Arron Asham and center/left wing Patrik Elias unlikely to play. Asham did not practice this morning because he was suffering from the flu and Devils coach Brent Sutter did not anticipate he would be feeling better in time to play against the Panthers. "With him not skating and being as sick as he is today, I think he's probably highly unlikely for tomorrow," Sutter said.

Elias also did not practice because of a sore groin that kept him out of Saturday's loss to the Islanders and Sutter said he was "very questionable" for Wednesday's game. "I'm not holding my breath that he's going to play," Sutter said. "

To make room for Clarke and Tallackson on the roster, Jay Pandolfo (pubic bone ligament) and Karel Rachunek (right ankle) were placed on injured reserve retroactive to the date of their respective injuries. Rachunek will be eligible to come off IR for Saturday's game in Boston, but did not practice today after skating on Monday. "He's not ready yet," Sutter said.

Clarke had 12 goals and 13 assists in 35 games with Lowell. Tallackson also scored 12 goals and added niine assist for 21 points in 30 games in Lowell. Clarke, 28, got in 20 NHL games over three seasons while in the Los Angeles Kings organization and had two goals and one assist. Tallackson has played 13 previous games for the Devils and recorded a goal and an assist.

"They both have taken strides and they're being rewarded for their play recently, the way they played in Lowell," Sutter said. "We thought this would be a good time to bring them in and there's a possibility they will play."

Sutter hadn't decided yet whether he'll dress 11 or 12 forwards against the Panthers and that will impact whether both Clarke and Tallackson will play. Clarke skated at left wing this morning on a line with Sergei Brylin and David Clarkson. Tallackson skated on the fourth line with Mike Rupp and Rod Pelley.

Sutter kept together the line of Zach Parise, John Madden and Brian Gionta, which he put together in the second period of Saturday's 5-2 loss and produced both Devil goals.

Martin Brodeur will start in net for the ninth game in a row.

Today's line combinations and defense pairings:

Forwards: Parise-Madden-Gionta; Zubrus-Zajac-Langenbrunner; Clarke-Brylin-Clarkson; Rupp-Pelley-Tallackson.

Defense:  White-Mottau; Oduya-Martin; Vishnevski-Brookbank; Greene.

Comments

[DEVS]

Why not Vrana. The team lacks depth at center. It would probably be worth it to see if Vrana has potential in the NHL before the trade deadline

[Sarah]

Why isn't he starting Weekes? I figured Florida would be the perfect game to give Marty an extra night off with the 3 games in 4 nights coming up. I wish we'd give Weekes more games.

[Bobby K]

Weeksie needs to play against Boston. It's aboslutely insane if he doesn't.

[Brian]

Clarke has played some in the NHL and he is a leader for Lowell, plus he has had a decent year, just behind Vrana. Tallackson is putting together a much better year, mainly because he has played on a line with Clarke and Vrana. This is sort of his make or break year so hopefully he plays well. I expected Vrana to be the first call up, but perhaps they want him to continue doing well in the AHL to keep his confidence up.

[Jason]

At least Tallackson has some size, which is something this team seriously lacks in its forwards. Rupp and Zubrus are the only forwards we have over 6'2.

[Devilswede]

The injury bug has hit the Devils really hard this year. I don't remember the last time we had these kind of problems with injuries.

John Madden is our number one center now...umm...help! Zajac is...well...useless.

Boy oh boy we're weak down the middle. We're in need of some serious help.

[DevsForLife]

What ever happened to Niklas Bergfors?

[Cmrcoach]

After watching Buffalo-Pittsburg today....how about Devils-Rangers at Giants Stadium?

[matt]

its just sad right now the situation the team is in. Zubrus can't play center.. Elias is hot and cold.. and is always switching from LW to C.. Zajac forgot how to play.. the D has 2 guys that should be in lowell.. and the 3/4 the guys should be the 5/6th men. and we have a buncha guys from the AHL playing offense.

the team is so weak right now.. hopefully the depth of the Devils organization will shine. its lookin pretty bleak right now though.

[Devilswede]

TG, what numbers were Clarke and Tallackson wearing today?

[Matt M]

Unless things have changed recently, players don't wear numbers in practice.

[Jersey Mike]

It doesn't seem to matter whether this team is winning or losing. It sounds like the same complaints. And matt the Devils don't really have the kind of depth on the farm you might think. And the Devils rank 28th of 30 in terms of talent in the organization. Though it lacks a little in being updated on certain things www.hockeysfuture.com will give you a pretty good idea of what the teams prospects are.
It would be nice to see Tallackson get the nod he's been playing well on the PP of late in Lowell, and that is an area the Devils could sure use a boost in.

[TG]

The players don't wear numbered jerseys in practice, but Clarke had No. 12 on his helmet and Tallackson had No. 24 (already worn this season by Malmivaara).

Tallackson previously wore 27 (now being worn by Mottau) and 19 (I think).

[alzheimers]

If the Tallackson-Clarke-Vrana line has such chemistry, why not call them all up at once? The Devs could field a worse 4th line, and their defense already has at least one true AHL line.

[Scott]

matt, jersey mike

let me paraphrase j-mike: the devils farm system is dreadful.

many on this site blame the devs low draft picking from our regular season success. but that does not hold water since so may teams continue to pour out good prospects despite winning (see detroit, san jose, ottawa, vancouver, many more).

lou has fallen behind the times. he is lost when it comes to cap management, has a ridiculous amount of confidence in a farm system which has brought us nothing in 5 years (zach is only expection) and is scared of his own shadow in the trade market.

the devils need a top-pairing defenseman and a stud scorer, and i repeat my calls for redden and hossa. this team isn't going anywhere in april, as currently constituted.

[Pat]

Scott

Unfortunately, we have nowhere near the cap room to bring in both those guys, let alone either. We'd have to dump 2 players w/at least 3M each in salary to do that. I don't think mgt wants to break up the current roster right now considering we are in 1st place but I agree we're going nowhere fast and will not make it deep into the playoffs with this half-AHL roster.

Lou has been a great GM, pre-lockout. He is still solid but he is not the progressive leader that we need right now. It's time for him to hand over the reigns and concentrate on writing checks.

W/respect to Vrana, it doesn't sound like he is the answer to our needs, even though he is a true center. We either need to start giving Zajac adrenaline shots before every shift or make a trade. If Zajac wants to drop down to 3rd line checking center, great; then we can sign him for less when he comes off his entry level contract. Madden will not carry us offensively and Elias can't be expected to do it either from the C position.

Blake may be available, how about him and Kopitar? Or Ryan Malone and Jordan Staal? Who do we give up? How about either White/Rachunek/Martin + Zubrus/Zajac or whoever we need to sweeten the pot with, or a slew of AHLers, especially considering LA is rebuilding.

[MoonDragn]

Madden IS carrying us offensively though. He is the pillar thats holding this team up. Defensively he's been one of the best forwards in limiting opponent's chances and this year he's been a monster offensively, unfortunately when he or Gionta or Parise are the only ones scoring, its not enough. We need the other guys on the team to chip one in. Wheres Zubrus? He's been worse than Madden offensively, and he was supposed to replace Gomez. Need that entire 2nd line to pitch in and score some goals.

[Mike]

Olli Jokinen and Jay Boumeester would look wonderful in Devils jerseys tonight. The Panthers don't seem to be going anywhere, and could use a shakeup. How about Zajac + Martin + Zubrus + a prospect + draft pick for Jokinen + Boumeester + Stumpel ?

We could have lines of:

Elias-Jokinen-Gionta
Parise-Stumpel-Langenbrunner
Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson
Brylin-Pelley-Asham

white-Boumeester
Vishnevski-Rachunek
Greene-Mottau
Brookbank

[Morgan]

This call for Weekes to start a game is fine and good, but the Devils can not score more than 2 goals a game! The coaching staff obviously feels that Marty gives them the best shot at winning if the team is only going to score 0, 1, or 2 goals a night. Weekes is a good goalie, but right now there is no room for error in goal, and Marty has had plenty of days off since Christmas.

[JJ]

Let's get real folks, they are not making a big multi-player trade. Don't have the horses, and Lou won't destroy the chemistry of this team just to shake things up. Yes the team's been up and down. Primarily because of the abysmal defensive start and that was mostly b/c there are many new faces on D and White was hurt. Look at the record since White came back. We are at the top defensively and on fire at home. The league is very even top to bottom and we have the deepest division in the east. Elias needs to step it up and the PP needs to wake up and we'll be just fine.

[Max]

JJ, well said. All this fantasy trade talk might be fun for a few minutes, but it's dreaming.

[RJ Arditti]

I can;t believe all these comments about Zajac being useless... lets give the guys a break, as its common knowledge that MOST PROSPECTS suffer through whats known as a "sophmore slump" give the guy a little time, he may not have as great a season this year compared to last, but he will be a great pivot one day for this team. I am still wishing for a true dominant Defenseman though... those comments are dead on, but as for bashing Zajac, give the guy a break he's only like 22 or 21 or something... I mean Jordan Staal is having a HORRIBLE year for pittsburgh but no one is calling him terrible and they had similar stats last year so lets get off his back. Afterall he isn;t supposed to be the most dominant player on the roster