Devils place Leach, Davison and Sestito on waivers; Elias and Fraser on IR

The Devils announced today that they have placed defensemen Jay Leach and Rob Davison and center Tim Sestito on waiver.

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said that if all three clear waivers, they will be assigned to the team's AHL affiliate in Lowell, Mass.

In addition, the Devils have placed left wing/center Patrik Elias and defenseman Mark Fraser on injured reserve.

Elias is recovering from groin surgery on Sept. 15. He has been working out, but has yet to begin skating. Lamoriello said that Elias will not be placed on long-term injured reserve.

Fraser suffered an apparent head injury in a fight with Philadelphia's Daniel Carcillo a week ago. Lamoriello would not answer directly when I asked if Fraser has a head injury.

"He was here this morning," Lamoriello said. "He's still going to be out for a little while, not long."

Lamoriello confirmed the team will have to make one more cut -- after Leach, Davison and Sestito are either claimed by another team or sent to Lowell -- to get down to 23 players.

Today's,moves indicate that both Andy Greene and Cory Murphy will make the team. The deletion of Leach and Davison, leaves the team with seven defensemen. When he is healthy enough, Fraser would have to clear waivers to be sent down, but the team cannot place him on waivers right now because he is injured.

Also, it locks up the fourth-line center job for Rod Pelley-- barring any acquisitions before the start of the season.

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If Leach clears waivers, he would have to clear re-entry waivers to be called back up, so this could mean the end of his Devils' career.

If Davison clears waivers and is sent to Lowell, he would not have to clear re-entry waivers to be called back up because he is on a two-way contract with an AHL salary of less than $105,000. Sestito also has a two-way contract with an AHL salary of less than $105,000, so he too would b

Assuming, Leach, Davison and Sestito will either be claimed or sent down, that would cut the training camp roster to 24: two goaltenders, seven defensemen and 15 forwards.

The last cut wiill be a forward. The choice seems to be from Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Illka Pikkarainen and Matt Halischuk.

Lamoriello confirmed that Pikkarainen and Leblond have to clear waivers to be sent down. Halischuk does not, making him the likeliest player to be cut.

Here's the roster with Leach, Davison and Sestito waived and Elias and Fraser on IR.

Goaltenders (2): Martin Brodeur, Yann Danis.

Defensemen (7): Colin White, Andy Greene, Paul Martin, Bryce Salvador, Mike Mottau, Cory Murphy, Johnny Oduya.

Left wings (6): Zach Parise, Brian Rolston. Brendan Shanahan (also plays RW), Jay Pandolfo, Andrew Peters. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (playing RW tonight).

Centers (4): Travis Zajac, Dainius Zubrus, Rob Niedermayer, Rod Pelley. 

Right wings (5): Jamie Langenbrunner, David Clarkson, Niclas Bergfors, Ilkka Pikkarainen, Matt Halischuk.

Comments

[Vinny C]

Wow, actually kind of surprised that Leach went on waivers.

[NJromano]

ATLANTA
Oystrick
COLUMBUS
Liffiton, Picard, Roy
EDMONTON
Reddox
FLORIDA
Taffe
NEW JERSEY
Davison, Leach, Sestit
NASHVILLE
O'Reill
ISLANDERS
Moore
PHOENIX
Hollweg
PITTSBURGH
Bayda, Bissonnette, Conner, Engelland, Guenin
TAMPA
Lashoff, Lundin
TORONTO
MacDonald
VANCOUVER
Funk, Lukowich, Nycholat
WASHINGTON
Bourque

[NJromano]

oreilly an bourque have tons of offensive skills

[Robbie]

Is Walter on the team still TG?

[TG]

Walter was sent down on Sunday.

[TG]

Bourque is small.

[Puckster]

No big surprises here. Don't the Devils need to cut their roster to 23 by tomorrow?

[Puckster]

I saw Chris Bourque play at BU. He was okay. Took a lot of really bad penalties.

[Jason]

He's 5'8, but at 181, he's a BIG 5'8

[Mike T]

Ben Walter was sent down last week

[NJromano]

o'reilly is an under the radar center.. i think has skills an could be a 40-50 pt player

1st in the NHL in shooting percentage scoring 3 goals on 6 shots. he had 5 pts in 11 games.. he was 100 pt OHL player. he was over a pt per game AHLer last yr..

[NJromano]

conner will be a decent player

[MoonDragn]

Does this mean Halischuk is staying up TG? or are they going to make one more cut before tomorrow?

[NJromano]

conner had 3g an 10a in 38 games

[mikeP]

why bourque or conner? the last thing this organization needs is more wingers? I'd take a flyer on O'Reilly who is a natural center, and played well in nashville last season

[ronmexico3]

LLLOOOVVVEEE to get O'Reilly in black and red.

[Puckster]

I believe the Devils have to cut at least three more players. One will likely be Fraser (when he's not hurt). Leblond will probably be another one. That leaves Halischuk and Pikkarainen. My bet is that it'll be Halischuk who goes down.

[TG]

I added my speculation on the cuts to the posts above, but really it's down to only one more cut (assuming that the players placed on waivers today are sent down or claimed by another team).

Trimming Leach, Davison and Sestito, cuts the roster to 26. If they put Elias and Fraser on the injured reserve, that brings them to 24.

That seems to narrow it down to Leblond, Pikkarainen and Halischuk. I believe Halischuk is the only one of those three that doesn't need to clear waivers to be sent down, but I'm waiting for a call back on that.

If that's true, then Halischuk is probably going to be sent down. Otherwise, someone else would have been placed on waivers today.

[Rusty]

Once Fraser comes back, I assume he'll be sent down. Once Elias comes back, will we have to send someone else down?

[TG]

Yes.

[bobo]

has anyone seen anything in Pikkarainen's game that says he should be on the team? i haven't.

[modnarm]

it'll definitely be Halischuk for the reasons TG posted. I also think a year in Lowell would do him good. Theres plenty of talent on that team now, they can form some chemistry with each other, put up some points, gain confidence, and improve their play. One obvious open spot will be that Shanny will be gone next year which will open up a spot for Halischuk/Zharkov. badabing.

[bobo]

keep Halischuk

[pando20rules]

is there any cap ramfiications to stop the Devils from putting Elias on IR to start the season? Or is it a no brainier he definitely will be placed there to start?

[TG]

Pikkarainen played one preseason game and then got sick, so it is very difficult to make any evaluation on him. He didn't do a lot when he played with Pelley and Leblond in the game against the Rangers, but then looked pretty good playing three or four shifts with Parise and Zajac in the third period that game.

What can you take from that? I really don't know.