New Jersey Devils place Vitek Vanecek on injured reserve, activate Jonas Siegenthaler

The New Jersey Devils have placed goaltender Vitek Vanecek on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 10, and have also activated defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler from IR.

Vanecek, 28, last played against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 10. He suffered a lower body injury and has missed every game to date since. The Czech goaltender stopped 31 shots in a 1-0 loss to Carolina, his four loss in his past five games.

It’s been a struggle for Vanecek this season, who has a 17-9-3 record in his second year as New Jersey’s No. 1 goaltender. He emerged with a big 33-11-4 record last year with three shutouts and a .911 save percentage before ultimately sharing the net with Akira Schmid during the postseason.

The Devils’ struggles in net has plagued the team this season, with Nico Daws being the best of the bunch as of late with a 6-6-0 record and a .912 save percentage. Vanecek has one more year left on his contract with an AAV of $3.4 million.

Siegenthaler, meanwhile, was placed on injured reserve last month with a foot injury. Coach Lindy Ruff told reporters today that he was looking to get Siegenthaler back in time to play against Washington – the Swiss blueliner’s former team – on Tuesday, so activating him off injured reserve makes that possible. The defenseman defender has one goal and eight points, averaging 19:54 a night.

The Devils are four points out of a wild-card playoff spot, holding a 5-4-1 record over the past 10 games. Getting Siegenthaler back helps alleviate some of the pressure on New Jersey’s two young star defenders, Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, who have been carriying the load often this season. Dougie Hamilton is on long-term injured reserve, while Cal Foote and forward Michael McLeod are away from the team as part of the criminal case against members of the 2018 Canadian world junior team.