The Devils were active at the trade deadline when it came to goaltenders, picking up Jake Allen from Montreal and Kaapo Kahkonen from San Jose.
However, they kept Nico Daws up in New Jersey as well. They’ve now decided that’s not the best course of action as the team announced Monday that Daws along with defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon have been assigned to AHL Utica.
Daws started the year on season-opening injured reserve and was activated in early December. Just weeks later, he was up with New Jersey and, aside from the holiday roster freeze, has been with the Devils since then.
Early on, the 23-year-old did well, posting a .912 SV percentage in his first dozen appearances, well above the team average of .894. However, Daws has struggled in recent weeks with that mark dropping down to .859, resulting in this move. On the season, he has a 3.15 GAA and a .894 SV percentage.
Now, he’ll split time with Akira Schmid with the Comets, giving them a leg up in their battle for a playoff spot in the North Division. Daws was eligible to return to Utica as he was papered down before the trade deadline with New Jersey using one of their four post-deadline recalls to bring him back up. Barring an injury to Allen or Kahkonen, recalling Daws later on would burn another one of those allowable recalls.
As for Wotherspoon, he was recalled back on Thursday, his first NHL promotion of the season. His recall was on an emergency basis so he didn’t count against the limit of four. However, the 31-year-old didn’t see any game action. Wotherspoon has 19 points in 54 games with the Comets so far this season.
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