Jacob Markstrom will be shut down for the final three games of the regular season, with Devils coach Sheldon Keefe saying Friday the team is giving its No. 1 goalie rest while he also rehabs nagging injuries. Gibson is expected to start when New Jersey visits Detroit after leaving in the second period of Thursday’s 6-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers because of a stiff neck.
The move leaves the Devils juggling another injury hit in a projected lineup that includes Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, Connor Brown, Lenni Hameenaho, Cody Glass, Nick Bjugstad, Paul Cotter, Marc McLaughlin and Brian Halonen. New Jersey also scratched Evgenii Dadonov and Maxim Tsyplakov, while Luke Hughes, Arseny Gritsyuk, Stefan Noesen, Zack MacEwen, Brett Pesce and Markstrom were listed as injured.
That matters because the game is not just another stop on the schedule; it is a late-season test of depth for a Devils team already missing key bodies. The Red Wings have their own list of absences, with Michael Rasmussen and Mason Appleton injured and Travis Hamonic and Axel Sandin-Pellikka scratched from the projected lineup.
Detroit’s projected forward groups feature Emmitt Finnie, Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp, Patrick Kane, David Perron, J.T. Compher, Carter Mazur, James van Riemsdyk, Marco Kasper and Dominik Shine, with Albert Johansson paired with Jacob Bernard-Docker on defense. For New Jersey, the immediate question is whether Gibson can settle in quickly enough to give the Devils a stable answer in goal while Markstrom gets the final stretch off.
