Less than a week after calling up Spencer Stastney from the Milwaukee Admirals, the Nashville Predators turned to their AHL affiliate yet again.
The Predators recalled defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from Milwaukee on Monday, likely signaling Stastney will miss a significant period of time after suffering an upper-body injury in Nashville’s 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 13, his first NHL game since Dec. 7.
Stastney is listed as week-to-week, and defenseman Dante Fabbro is also out 2-3 weeks with an upper-body injury.
Because the Predators have six healthy defensemen, Del Gaizo’s call up doesn’t count as an emergency recall, meaning the Predators have two of their four regular recalls left to use for the rest of the season.
Del Gaizo hasn’t played in the NHL since a five-game stint with the Predators from Nov. 4 to Nov. 14, in which he scored three points and averaged 16:22 of ice time per game.
The 24-year-old spent most of his time paired with Tyson Barrie (they accounted for 4 goals for and 3 against), skating 56:25 with him and 25:25 without. Fabbro is the only other Predators defenseman Del Gaizo played more than 4:40 with.
An offensive defenseman, Del Gaizo leads all Admirals defensemen in goal (8) and points (32), and he ranks sixth on the team in scoring.
His offensive prowess makes him an excellent fit in head coach Andrew Brunette’s puck-attacking system and helped him standout during training camp as he was among the final roster cuts ahead of the Predators’ season opener.
“[Brunette is] the kind of coach that I think sees my game really well, you know, jumping up in the rush and making aggressive reads,” Del Gaizo told Nashville Hockey Now back in October. “I think that’s really you know my attributes from skating and my puck moving and my shot and my offensive ability.”
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