Holik practicing; Vrana assigned to Lowell for conditioning

Another day, another injured Devil back at practice.

Center Bobby Holik is practicicing with the team this morning at Prudential Center. It's his first practice since he fractured his right pinky on Oct. 18 in Washington.

Holik had been skating for a week on his own.

Rookie forward Petr Vrana is not here. He has been assigned to Lowell on a conditioning stint. He does not have to clear waivers to go on an conditioning assignment and still counts against the team's NHL roster. Lowell has four games in five days, beginning with Wednesday night's home game against Springfield.

All of the rest of the healthy Devils are present and accounted for. With Holik practicing, defenseman Andy Greene (broken right hand) and Martin Brodeur (torn left biceps tendon) are the only injured Devils not on the ice.

Holik is wearing a green jersey, putting him on the "fifth line" with Barry Tallackson. He is taking part in all of the drills. They are doing one-on-one down low drills right now. Holik went against Mike Rupp.

Brian Rolston, who is coming back from a high right ankle sprain, is practicing for the second day in a row. He's on the fourth line again with Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Rupp.

John Madden (bruised left ankle) is also practicing again and in his usual spot with Jay Pandolfo and David Clarkson.

Vrana's departure (he can only stay in Lowell for two weeks on a conditioning stint) probably means at least Madden will make his return on Thursday night in Philadelphia.

***

Today's line combinations and defense pairings.

Forwards: Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner; Elias-Zubrus-Gionta; Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson; Leblond-Rupp-Rolston; (empty)-Holik-Tallackson.

Defensemen: Salvador-Martin; White-Oduya; Salmela-Mottau; Brookbank (extra).

Goaltenders: Weekes, Clemmensen.

Comments

[RNCDevil]

Ah, too bad for the rookies. 2009 will be a nightmare/dream logjam of prospects - Tedenby, Vasyunov, Bergfors, Halischuk, Palmieri, Vrana, Cormier, Hoeffel...I'm sure I'm missing some.

FYI, Mark Fraser is a -12 for Lowell..oof.

[Ernie]

You are a poor coach Bert, big bird needs to take over again.

[Curt]

Its good to see this team pulling it back together with all the injuries this season. As far as I am concerned the Devs are truly a team of interchangeable parts and have have held it together pretty well being the circumstances. It is amazing hearing critics of the Devils talking about the cupboards being bare due to inability to draft or making that blockbuster deal over the last several years. In reality looking at this team(young and old)I cannot remember it being so deep. This being said, Question for you TG. With Holik, Madden and Rolston returning and Greene on the Horizon where do you think all these chess pieces are going to fit in? I know it is a broad question but I honestly do not remember when this team has been so deep. While I am picking your brain, does Vrana have to clear waivers if he is permanently assigned to Lowell or does he have to stay on the Devils Roster? Thanks in advance and keep up the good work. It is much appreciated.

[Jim]

I don't understand why players like Vrana are being sent down in favor of the tallacksons, makes no sense to me. You can say vrana hasnt produced but he has hardly played.

[Jeff]

Great News that Holik is practicing. Hopefully him and Rollie will infuse some energy into the line up

[Tom Gulitti]

Don't read it as a Vrana vs. Tallackson thing. Tallackson already has been down on a conditioning stint this season and can't go back down that way again (At least not yet).

Vrana can go down for conditioning, but, as a I posted above, can only stay there for two weeks. I think it makes sense to send him down for some games if he's not going to play here (which appears to be the case). Also, it might help Lowell.

[Tom Gulitti]

To be officially assigned to Lowell, Vrana would have to clear waivers. That's why this is a conditioning assignment.

[MoonDragn]

I see a trend in Sutter's choices. You have to realize that the bigger the player, the better in Sutter's book. Vrana is probably too small for his liking. Tallackson is bigger. I mean that would explain why Brookbank is playing...

[Jim]

ok TG thanks for the clarification, I just hope they give him another shot to play. Salmela wasnt given too much either but this second run better have put him on the map. I just think a infusion of youth into the team would do it wonders if we are to make a push this year.

[Jason]

Is this the same kind of "conditioning" assignment that was given to Mogilny...Marshall...Rasmussen...Matvichuk

[Craigwell]

It definitely seems the Devils are in a good position to trade for veteran help on D if they feel the need, considering all the prospects they have, some of whom can't return to Lowell without clearing waivers.

A Hard decision for a team doing well that doesn't want to disrupt chemistry.

Out of Greene, Oduya and Salmela, who would the Devils want to part with?? No room for all three with a healthy Martin, and none would seem to benefit with time in Lowell.

[JJ]

All this depth only means that once the team is has played 20-25 games as a close to completely healthy unit that Lou has options to make a deal once the staff can evaluate where we are at and what we really need. Impossible to do right now (not that deals are being mad anyway). At that point we'll be around a month from the deadline and we'll also know where Marty is at and Lou can deal from a position of strength to get max value in return for whatever assets he moves.

[Tom Gulitti]

No, those other guys cleared waivers, were officially sent down and were no longer on team's NHL roster. "Conditioning assignment" is an official NHL term. It's not a Devils' term.

[Mike redante]

healthy lines....
Parise, Zajac, Rolston
(another goal scorer on that line take pressure off parise)

Gionta, Zubrus, Elias
(playing well elias and rolston both more effective as wingers)

Pando, Madden, Langdenbrunner

Rupp, Holik, Clarkson
( Id even contimplate putting Holik on third line instead of Pando...More offense, and pandos playing horrible this yr)

POWERPLAY

Parise, Elias, Gionta
Rolston and Samella on the points ( keep them on for 1:30 of pp..sutter needs to stop taking 1st unit off adter 45 seconds)

Zajac, Zubrus, Holik

Martin, Langdenbrunner

Penalty Kill------Pandos a wasteeeee (we could be scoring more shorties pando and madden arent really that good on Pk just look at recent games and stats...Pks been the best this season with out madden and pando

Madden and GIo, or Zajac

Elias and Rolston or parise

[Jeff]

I'm guessing of the 3 mentioned Greene will be most likely to go.

[RNCDevil]

On Vrana and others...I would love to see the rookies, but they need to make an impact. Think about what Parise or Dubinsky did with limited minutes. The rookies need to be that good to displace strong players on a strong team. Do I have issues with Gionta, Langs, White? Yeah, sometimes, but they are still performing at a level above Vrana, Tallackson, and Bergfors, in my opinion.

[roge]

Of course they are ... it's not their first months in the NHL.

[David B.]

TG, is it fair to assume that the team will look like this in several weeks when everyone is healthy to avoid losing people to the waiver wire:

Elias-Zubrus-Gionta
Parise-Zajac-Rolston
Pandolfo-Madden-Langenbrunner
Rupp-Holik-Clarkson

Ex. Vrana, Tallackson

Salvador-Martin
White-Oduya
Greene-Mottau

Ex. Brookbank

Sent Down: Leblond, Salmela

To my knowledge I believe that Leblond and Salmela are not required to pass through waivers to be sent down to Lowell but I could be wrong. If you could please clarify this for me. Thank you, you do a great job!

[mikeP]

unless he falls apart, I think Salmela is here for good, I don't see him going back to Lowell. I would think that either Brookbank or Tallackson will be waived or traded, so we'd be carrying either 7 or 8 d-men

[Triumph]

with brookbank playing at forward and defense, i think he's a solid 23rd man to have on a roster. he can't do either well but at least there's some versatility there.

vrana has demonstrated that he just cannot be used in road games as a center - it's too dangerous. i'm hoping new jersey moves him to wing but there really is no room at left wing on this team, either now or in the near future.

[modnarm]

IMO MOTTAU and prospect/a few picks should be the only players up for a trade. I agree with the first comment that in 09 we're gonna have a lot of skilled young forwards trying to make it in. We have more mediocrity at D than O so trade some of the O players for a top dman.

What kind of defenseman is Bouwmeester? any player any1 can relate him to?

[Sarah]

I'd be shocked if Salmela got the nod over Greene once he gets healthy. As much as Anssi has finally started playing well, Andy was one of our best defenseman for the 4 games he got to play before he broke his hand -- and he was putting points on the board. No way Sutter doesn't at least rotate him in for a few games to see if he continues to play as well as he was before the injury.

[Jeff]

Yes Greene had a good 4 game stint but we are also talking tradability and salary and I thing Greene is much more attractive to other teams than Salmela right now and Salmela has the more attractive salary. The way Salmela has been progressing he is just as good as Greene and most likely will become a better d-man in the long run. I see a lot of the same attributes in Salmela that rafalski brought ot the table once he adjusted to the NHL.

[Pearl Jammed]

Modern... right now i would compare him to Bryce Salvadore but younger

[Al]

Hey TG, I thought Vrana could not be sent down to Lowell unless he passed trhough waivers? What exactly is the deal with being sent down and his contract status? Thanks!