Rolston, Madden practicing with team; Leblond called up

Devils forward Brian Rolston is practicing with the team today for the first time since he suffered a high right ankle sprain on Oct. 16 in Atlanta.

Rolston had been skating either on his own or with the other injured players for the last two weeks.

Center John Madden is also praticing after missing the last four games with a bruised left ankle.

Dainius Zubrus is also practicing after sitting out most of the third period Saturday in Pittsburgh because of a stomach bug.  

There is no sign of Bobby Holik (broken right pinky) or Andy Greene (broken right hand).

The Devils also called up left wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond from Lowell and he is practicing today. 

Rolston appears to be skating well and has participated in all drills. It looks like he is skating on a line with rookies Petr Vrana and Barry Tallackson. He also is mixing in with Mike Rupp and Leblond.

They were practicing the power play and Rolston mixed in sporadically with the first unit. The first unit has Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias up front with Jamie Langenbrunner and Anssi Salmela on the points. Rolston has switched in for Salmela at the right point a couple of times.

The second unit has Brian Gionta, Zubrus and David Clarkson up front with Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya at the points.

Sheldon Brookbank is back practicing with the defensemen.

They're playing a fun 3-on-3 scrimmage right now with the nets moved up to near the blue lines. It's mostly defensemen vs. forwards, though the Elias-Zubrus-Gionta line is playing with the defensemen.

Matt Halischuk, who had surgery on his right knee three weeks ago, is watching practice from the stands.

***

Today's line combinations: Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner; Elias-Zubrus-Gionta; Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson; Leblond-Rupp-Rolston; Tallackson-Vrana-Rolston.

Comments

[Devils95]

Things are looking up !!!

[Rob]

SWEET

[theking72]

Yay!!!!

PL3 back for the Flyers - wonder if he's still pissed about the hit that cracked his orbital bone

[Sarah]

You just made my Monday, TG. That's fantastic news.

[DS]

theking32/ Too bad that Cote is still out then, because he was the guy that injured him. I guess P3L will have to take out his frustration on Josh Gratton or Hartnell. I'd love to see him beat up Hartnell.

[Bobby]

TG is Tallackson and Vrana still there?

Did Holik skate this am?

[Rob]

Langs better practice hard on the PP.. he's been abysmal at the point.

[Jeff]

With Martin Salmela Oduya and Rollie on the points are PP actually gets a little scary

[Tom Gulitti]

I haven't heard if Holik and Greene skated this morning.

Tallackson and Vrana are still here.

[JJ]

Langs is only on the PP point because he's one of the few guys we have with RH shot there, unfortunately Rob is right, he's been very underwhelming and should lose his job.

[Jack]

Sign Shanny Lou!

[frankied]

-Glad the Brookbank as forward experiment is over (for now)

-Would rather see Rolston replace Langenbrunner at the point and leave Salmela there. That would give us 2 big guns to be feared on the PP. Move Langenbrunner to the 2nd PP unit or leave him off the PP altogether.

[Falcone]

Its about time these guys are back. Hopefully everyone is good to go for Thursday night.

[Josh]

I honestly had no issues with Brookbank as a forward. As long as he's left in a strictly fourth-line banger type role, he's not half bad and I prefer that Brookbank over the defensive Brookbank.

Of course, I prefer no Brookbank over the offensive Brookbank, too.

[Jeff]

Nobody wants Shanny and that includes us! Let him retire and fade away

[DS]

People need to realise that Shanahan hasn't signed anywhere yet because no one wants him!

[LucasS]

OMG...........I love seeing the Rolston aiming to play title. That made this shitty day a whole lot better.

[JohnnyB]

Beginning of a rebound...

[Salvatore from Garfield]

DS- I don't know if you've noticed, but it's only that tool (Jack) that says, "Sign Shanny." Clearly, he just wants attention, so why give it to him?

[Kellyn]

I do think Sheldon Brookbank played slightly better on the wing than on defense, but unfortunately that probably has more to do with the fact that he recieved drastically less ice time on the fourth line when compared with the minutes he was getting on the third defensive pairing, giving him less time to take bad penalties and/or make stupid mistakes that wind up costing the team.

If Rolston and Madden really are ready to return to the line-up on Thursday against Philadelphia (and considering how temperamental foot/ankle injuries can be, I'll probably take this news with a grain of salt until I see Mad Dog out there on the ice with Pando, harassing and otherwise attempting to throw Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter off their game) and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond has indeed returned to throw down with the Flyers, they should scratch Barry Tallackson and Brookbank from the starting line-up. This would leave a hole on defense which they could fill by bringing Leach back up (who did pretty well in the NHL games he has played this season) and partner him up on the third pairing with Salmela, who he has a rapport with from playing together down in the AHL.

[Neil S]

Why would there be a hole on defense? Mottau, White, Martin, Salvador, Salmella, Oduya. Six defensemen. If the first two lines are to indeed remain intact and both Madden and Rolston play, then Rolston skates with Pandolfo and Madden and Clarkson plays with Rupp and Leblond. If the Zubrus, Gio and Elias line keeps it up, and Zach Parise does his thing it makes for a very well rounded and formidable Devils lineup.

[Kellyn]

Blah. Sorry about that - I accidentally miscounted the number of defenseman already in the line-up. It's been that kind of day, but what with all the injuries and Mottau's suspension, not to mention the sometimes underwhelming play of the defensive corps, it's been kind of difficult to keep track. I still think they should scratch Brookbank though. I like P3L better.

[Al]

PL3 = A waste of ice time and it's a disgrace that he would play over talented players like a Petr Vrana. When a team decides to play "goon'em up" hockey against the Flyers, the Flyers always win those games. You beat teams with GOALS not fights. It's garbage and playing into the Flyers hands, let me guess the boys are going to have a good cycle going and then Leblond will kill it with a fight in the offensive zone for NO reason at all, except for selfish gain. Reminds me of the fools who complained about Cam Jam's trade for a VERY solid D man.

Also, Salmela should ALWYAS be on the PP because he has our hardest, shot it seems, next to Andy Greene. Take Jamie off the point because he is not quick to get back if there is a break.