Leach called up from Lowell

It's official. The Devils have called up defenseman Jay Leach from Lowell for today's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Leach was the only player the Devils called up, so it looks like Sheldon Brookbank will stay at right wing on the fourth line.

The Devils were down to only 17 skaters with Mike Mottau suspended for two games because of his hit on the Islanders' Frans Nielsen on Friday and John Madden missing his second game in a row with a bruised left ankle.

Leach spent last season in the Tampa Bay organization and played two NHL games for the Lightning. He did not register a point or have any penalty minutes.

Leach played two games for the Devils earlier this season -- against Edmonton on Nov. 9 and against the Rangers on Nov. 12 -- and had no points and an even defensive rating.  He averaged 9:52 in ice time in those two games.

Comments

[Puckster]

Leach makes sense. I guess Sutter really likes Brookbank on wing.

[jdr30]

Hey TG -- Any work on who will be in goal tonight?

Amd maybe ask some of the players what they think of the suspension? (ie. fair? not fair?)

[Steve]

Who's starting in net today TG?

[theking72]

I am ok with this. Leach has played very simple and safe hockey in his prior callup; will hold the fort.

[TG]

There is no morning skate today because of the 5 p.m. start, but I'll post the info on the goaltender and maybe some reactions to the suspension before the game.

[Craigwelll]

gotta love this road trip... 5 days in the state of florida, then the rest of the week in the nj area, as the next games after florida wed are pit and philly... then a trip to montreal dec 6, with a return to the rock dec 10th..

Are the guys going to play a little golf this week, TG?

Did the wives accompany them for the TB-FLA stint ???

gotta love it

[Robbie]

I think it will be Weekes

[Steve]

I think it could be Weekes, since he beat the Lightning 2.5 weeks ago. Its going to be a fun sports afternoon, Devils, Giants and Red Bull New York. I'll be flipping back and forth between 3 channels.

[Falcone]

I'm betting its Clemmer in net today. I said Mottau would get suspended for two games, luckily its games against two of the non contenders.

Got to say I don't mind Sheldon on the 4th line at winger right now. He adds some spark and has the defensive mindset so in my opinion its an added bonus.

[James]

How is Leach called up and not Eckford? What more does Eckford have to do in Lowell in order for him to be called up? He's the +/- leader for D-men in Lowell, he's the points leader, and he's a physical specimen. Lead the NCAA's in scoring for d-men last season as a junior a la Paul Martin (who obviously went immediately from college to the Devils after junior year in college).

Why are we calling up a retread no upside shmoe when we can call up one of our young kids who's playing well in Lowell!

[NJSwampdragon]

Eckford is not the +/- leader in Lowell, he's +1, Leach is +6. Also his 7 points in 14 game isn't exactly dominating. Everyone is always so in love with minor leaguers. Minor league stats don't always translate to the NHL, just ask Alexander Suglobov, who had 48 points in 51 games in 2005-2006 in the AHL.

[DanT]

@ james. lowell is running on a 2 game win streak and going for 3 in 3 days after a horrible losing streak. why else?!

[DanT]

@ james. lowell is running on a 2 game win streak and going for 3 in 3 days after a horrible losing streak. why else?!

[mike in pa]

Slightly off topic...but I'm putting it here anyway.

TG have you heard or seen any Isles fans/writers talking about Mottau being on camera "laughing" about the hit in the box after it happened...I've seen it mentioned on a few boards and even by a beat writer for the Isles and it seems like such nonsense. I tracked down the clip on youtube for anyone that cares to see whats been called "laughing". Whole thing seems ridiculous and blown out of porportion to me.

Heres the clip...watch the last 5-10 seconds when they show him in the box...far from a laugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmMUFxmQ-Zo

and the article that talks about mottau's apparent "guilty enjoyment"
http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/blog/2008/11/how_does_nhl_define_head_shots.html#comments

[mike in pa]

I think this got flagged the first time...so I'll try again

TG have you heard or seen any Isles fans/writers talking about Mottau being on camera "laughing" about the hit in the box after it happened...I've seen it mentioned on a few boards and even by a beat writer for the Isles and it seems like such nonsense. I tracked down the clip on youtube for anyone that cares to see whats been called "laughing". Whole thing seems ridiculous and blown out of porportion to me.

Heres the clip...watch the last 5-10 seconds when they show him in the box...far from a laugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmMUFxmQ-Zo

and the article that talks about mottau's apparent "guilty enjoyment"
http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/blog/2008/11/how_does_nhl_define_head_shots.html#comments

[mike in pa]

ehh...sorry about the double, the post went away and then came back....whoops

[James]

@ NJswampdragon

[James]

@NJSwampDragon

That's a weak argument. THe knock on Eckford was that he wasn't "defensively responsible" enough to play on the big club...well sorry for my misinformed post, but he was the +/- leader in Lowell for dmen all season up until recently. Obviously the guy is learning quickly. Ad that to the fact that he IS the points leader for d-men (7 points in 14 games is pretty good, what were you expecting, Niedermayer stats?) says the guy has a good offensive mind and is clearly getting better defensively. Eckford=upside. Leach=journeyman with no offensive game at all.

All I'm saying is so far Lou has called up Brookbank and Leach over Eckford. Just doesn't seem right to me. BTW, Suglobov was in Lou's doghouse for not being defensively responsible, ever.

[Puckster]

Eckford isn't NHL-ready. He looked very unsure of himself playing defense against NHLers in preseason. He needs more seasoning. He has the potential to be a very good dman for us someday, but he's simply not ready in my opinion.

[Mark K.]

Eckford is one of the few prospects I want left alone and not called up. He's a forward converted to defense and has done a spectacular job with it in his three years at Alaska-Fairbanks. He's playing well in Lowell and his confidence is high. Just leave him there. Leach is capable and will not hurt the Devils defensively, so let him be the one that gets 10 minutes of ice time.

[mike in pa]

Actually I was just abut to say the same thing....Leach is what he is and probably isnt going to suffer from a lack of icetime or over inflated expectations. Say Eckford comes up and gets 10 mins a game, or plays poorly...that confidence from playing so well in Lowell goes away, and youve potentially stalled his development. Gotta be careful with a player's (especially a prospect in his first pro season) confidence

[TG]

I know Greg Logan (who I think wrote that Newsday blog post) and am surprised. If that's the clip he was talking about, that was hardly a laugh. Maybe there was another clip that Greg saw, but if from watching that clip Greg wrote that was Mike Mottau laughing about the hit, that is irresponsible.

Greg did not talk to Mike after the game and didn't see how bad the guy felt that Nielsen was injured and how he wanted to try to find out the extent of the injury. He hardly looked or sounded like someone who had laughed about it.

And to try to make a connection between Weight's hit on Brandon Sutter and Mottau's hit as some kind of retribution is an even bigger leap. How would Mike Mottau hitting Frans Nielsen be retribution for Weight hitting Brent Sutter's son? That's ridiculous.

I also said right away when watching the hit that it was a bad play by Mike Mottau. I don't know what he was thinking. He deserved his suspension.

Still, I don't think anyone thinking impartially or reasonably can conclude from watching that hit that it was an intentional attack to avenge a hit by another player on the Islanders (Weight) for a hit on a player (Brandon Sutter) who is not even on the Devils.

[TG]

Let Eckford stay in Lowell and develop. He's a first-year pro learning the pro game. No need to rush him.

[James]

Sorry TG and everyone else, but when we have Brookbank playing defense/RW and a journeyman Leach being called up, during a time like this where there are many injuries to overcome...I just don't agree. Eckford would give us a better chance to win at D-man than Brookbank or anyone else in Lowell, even Corrente.

[DS]

The guy that wrote that blog (Greg Logan) is a joke.