Devils activate veteran winger from long-term IR

The Devils announced Tuesday that they’ve activated right-winger Nathan Bastian from long-term injured reserve. After recalling goaltender Isaac Poulter earlier this morning, New Jersey had a full active roster, so it reassigned right-winger Nathan Legare to AHL Utica in a corresponding transaction.

Bastian, 27, has not played since sustaining a jaw injury in a fight with Flames left-winger Ryan Lomberg on Nov. 1. The Devils retroactively placed him on LTIR on Nov. 18, per the league’s media site, removing him from the active roster and giving themselves a little extra spending flexibility in the process with the physical winger expected to miss more than the 10-game, 24-day minimum required.

It ended up being a 16-game, 39-day absence for Bastian, who will reprise a fourth-line role alongside Justin Dowling and Tomáš Tatar in his return Tuesday against the Maple Leafs, per the team’s Catherine Bogart. Before getting hurt, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound forward had two goals and three assists for five points in 12 games, averaging 10:29 per night.

The Devils are nearly $1M over the cap after the trio of transactions Tuesday, so they’ve presumably shifted center Curtis Lazar and his $1M cap hit from standard IR to LTIR to re-open their pool and remain compliant. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since late October and is out indefinitely after undergoing a procedure on his knee.

Bastian, a second-round Devils pick back in 2016, has played all but 12 of his 217 career NHL games in a New Jersey uniform. He was exposed in the 2021 expansion draft and claimed by the Kraken but ended up on waivers less than two months into his tenure with Seattle and was re-claimed by the Devils.

The Kitchener, Ontario, native is in the second season of the two-year, $2.7M deal he signed to remain a Devil after being non-tendered in 2023. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Legare, 23, returns to Utica after appearing in his first three NHL contests this month. The 6-foot, 205-pound Montreal native logged a -1 rating, three shots, one block and 12 hits while averaging 10:41 per game, although he’s still looking for his first NHL point.

A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019, Legare is already on his third NHL organization after being traded twice last season. He had three goals and 47 PIMs in 18 games with Utica before the call-up, and since his stay on the roster lasted less than 30 days and 10 games, he didn’t require waivers to head back to the minors.