Devils’ Paul Cotter suspended two games for illegal hit on Islanders’ Adam Pelech

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced Monday that New Jersey Devils forward Paul Cotter has been suspended two games as a result of an illegal check to the head of New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech.

The incident occured at the six-minute mark of the second period of Sunday’s 1-0 Islanders victory. Cotter was assessed a match penalty on the play, resulting in his removal from the game, while Pelech left the game with an apparent injury and did not return.

“I don’t have any update on [Pelech], but that is the kind of hit we don’t like,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy told reporters postgame. “That’s the kind of hit we don’t want to see happening with any team.”

Skating in his first season with the Devils, Cotter has made 79 appearances in 2024-25 in which he has registered 16 goals and six assists for 22 points coupled with a minus-14 mark and 62 penalty minutes, third most on the Devils. Prior to Sunday’s incident, Cotter had not been previously suspended nor fined by the NHL Department of Player Safety.

A veteran of 217 career contests counting stops with the Vegas Golden Knights and Devils, Cotter has recorded 38 goals and 29 assists for 67 career points. Cotter was originally chosen by the Golden Knights in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL Draft.

Per PuckPedia, Cotter is in the second year of a three-year contract that carries a $775,000 annual average value. A 25-year-old native of Canton, Mich., Cotter joined the Devils last June in exchange for forward Alexander Holtz and goaltender Akira Schmid.

With two games remaining in their regular-season schedule, Cotter will be ineligible to return to the Devils’ lineup until Game 1 of the club’s opening-round series versus the Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes.