The puck dropped, and Utica Comets captain Ryan Schmelzer won the opening face-off, quickly moving the puck back to his defenseman, Seamus Casey. The 21-year-old dished the puck to his defensive partner, Colton White, and the Comets skated into the offensive zone.
It marked Casey's first puck touch of the 2025-26 regular season, as a lower-body injury placed him on injured reserve earlier this month.
On Oct. 22, he was activated off injured reserve and assigned to the American Hockey League. Casey played one game with the Comets, picking up one primary assist while quarterbacking the power play.
"It was great to get a game," Casey told NJD.TV. "It was good to see the guys. It was a short turnaround. But it was really good to get a game. Coming back here we are seeing a good team so I am happy to get that game in.”
As he settled into life and routine in Upstate New York, he got the call to pack his bags and get on a flight to Denver, Colorado, to meet the New Jersey Devils on their four-game road trip.
Casey's services became a necessity as another injury hit New Jersey.
In the Devils' Sunday afternoon game against the Colorado Avalanche, veteran defenseman Brett Pesce blocked a shot late in the first period that resulted in an upper-body injury that will keep him out for at least a month.
The 5-foot-10 blueliner is the next man up for the Devils' head coach, Sheldon Keefe.
"Casey specifically comes in and keeps that right-left balance," Keefe told NJD.TV. "(Dennis) Cholowski has done a good job and worked hard here, but we like the right-left balance that it gives us. We did feel the need to shuffle some things around to make sure there is a sound veteran with each of our young guys who are in."
Last season, Casey appeared in 14 regular-season games for the Devils, collecting eight points (four goals, four assists). He made his playoff debut on Apr. 29, 2025, against the Carolina Hurricanes, playing 9:13.
Per reporters in Colorado, the Devils used the following lines and pairs during their morning skate at Ball Arena:
Ondrej Palat - Jack Hughes - Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier - Nico Hischier - Dawson Mercer
Arseny Gritsyuk - Juho Lammikko - Connor Brown
Paul Cotter - Luke Glendening - Stefan Noesen
Luke Hughes - Dougie Hamilton
Jonas Siegenthaler - Simon Nemec
Brenden Dillon - Seamus Casey
Jacob Markstrom
Puck drop between the Devils and the Avalanche is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on MSGSN2 and streamed on Gotham Sports.
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