Devils Training Camp Opens With Brutal Injury Updates for Nick Bjugstad and Johnathan Kovacevic

The New Jersey Devils have barely laced up their skates for training camp, and the injury bug is already treating their roster like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Veteran center Nick Bjugstad is officially out four to six months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn left pectoral muscle. To make matters worse, defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic is dealing with a knee issue that will keep him severely limited in camp.

Tearing a pec during offseason training is objectively the worst way to start a hockey year. You spend your entire summer trying to get into peak physical condition, and your reward is spending the next half-year trying to figure out how to put on a t-shirt with one arm.

Bjugstad was supposed to be a reliable bottom-six anchor for New Jersey. He split 61 games between the St. Louis Blues and the Devils last season, racking up 108 hits and eating tough minutes. Now, he will be lucky to see the ice before mid-January.

The Kovacevic situation might actually be the bigger headache for the blue line. The Devils just handed him a five-year, $20 million contract, and he is already being ruled out indefinitely with a knee injury that will likely cost him Opening Night.

Anyone holding a ticket on New Jersey futures has to be sweating just a little bit. Depth is the only thing that keeps NHL teams alive during the winter grind, and the Devils are already tapping into their reserves before the preseason even starts.

The front office now has to scramble to patch these holes before the real games begin. If Kovacevic cannot get that knee right soon, New Jersey will be shopping the waiver wire just to field a functional defense when the puck drops for real.