New Jersey Devils coach Peter DeBoer will receive an early Christmas gift on Friday when his team plays host to the Dallas Stars at Prudential Center.

Center Travis Zajac, who has been sidelined all season while recovering from a torn left Achilles tendon, will play his first game. Zajac was practicing on the team's third line on Thursday with wings Eric Boulton and Mattias Tedenby. DeBoer confirmed after practice that Zajac, who underwent surgery on Aug. 18, would be in the lineup.

Meanwhile, defensemen Henrik Tallinder (left wrist) and Anton Volchenkov (hand) were also practicing with the team and are probable for Friday's meeting with the Stars. Wing David Clarkson was missing from practice but, according to general manager Lou Lamoriello, is dealing with a personal matter.

The Bergen Record is also reporting that goalie Johan Hedberg will get the nod against Dallas and Martin Brodeur will start against Montreal on Saturday.

Here were the Devils line combinations at Thursday's practice:

Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Eric Boulton - Travis Zajac - Mattias Tedenby
Tim Sestito - Ryan Carter - Cam Janssen

Bryce Salvador - Kurtis Foster
Henrik Tallinder - Adam Larsson
Anton Volchenkov - Mark Fayne
Alexander Urbom - Matt Taormina

Both Ottawa and Carolina could be struggling for offense this week after both teams announced that one of their top performers had been diagnosed with a concussion.

The Hurricanes confirmed Wednesday that 2011 Calder Trophy-winner Jeff Skinner, who has missed the past two games after taking a hard hit from Edmonton defenseman Andy Sutton last week, has a concussion with no timetable set for his return. Skinner's loss is a particularly large blow for Carolina, as the second-year forward has continued to perform in his sophomore season, leading the team with 12 goals and 12 assists in 30 games.

"We just follow whatever the doctor tells us," Hurricanes General Manager Jim Rutherford said Wednesday. "You can't project when a player would return."

If any GM can empathize with Rutherford Wednesday, it's Ottawa's Bryan Murray. The Senators announced Milan Michalek, whose 19 goals are the most in the NHL, is suffering from a concussion after an accidental collision with teammate Erik Karlsson during Tuesday night's game in Buffalo.

Michalek is considered day-to-day.

"Right now we have to follow the concussion protocol, so he's day-to-day," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "It's based on as long as he's symptom-free, he can participate. He felt way better today, so we'll see how it goes."

Michalek and Skinner are the latest high-profile players to have been diagnosed with concussions, such as Philadelphia's Claude Giroux and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. Philadelphia's Chris Pronger has been diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms. Michalek is currently on pace to shatter his career high of 26 goals in 2006-07, while Skinner, whose teammate Joni Pitkanen has also been diagnosed with a concussion, had been on pace to beat the 63 points he tallied in his rookie campaign last season.

The Buffalo Sabres already are banged up and they got even more bad news today, as coach Lindy Ruff said center Ville Leino will miss "weeks" with a lower-body injury suffered in Tuesday's game against Ottawa.

Leino played 14:49 against the Senators, but just one shift, totaling 56 seconds, in the final 9:25 of the game.

Matt Ellis skated in Leino's place today at practice.

The Sabres already are missing forwards Brad Boyes, Nathan Gerbe, Jochen Hecht, Patrick Kaleta and Corey Tropp.

The only good news is defenseman Tyler Myers, who hasn't played since Nov. 19 due to a broken wrist, told reporters he hopes to return sometime around the holiday break.

Carolina forward Jeff Skinner has been diagnosed with a concussion and is out indefinitely, Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford announced in a statement Wednesday. Rutherford also updated the status of defenseman Joni Pitkanen, who also suffered a concussion and is out indefinitely.
 
Skinner, 19, currently leads the Hurricanes in goals (12) and points (24). He has missed the team's last two games, marking the first games he has missed in his NHL career.

Pitkanen, 28, leads all Hurricanes defensemen in assists (9) and points (12), and is tied for first among Carolina blueliners with 3 goals. He has missed the team's last three games.

Capitals GM George McPhee said Wednesday that injured defenseman Mike Green would join the team in Colorado for Saturday's game, but there is no timetable for his return to the lineup. McPhee also added that Green, who has been sidelined since Nov. 11 with a groin injury, will not need surgery.

"No, they ruled that out," McPhee said, according to CSNWashington.com. "It's not worse than we already knew and he has been making progress. We're just trying to expedite things. We'll know more based on the treatments he's getting."

The Capitals on Monday said Green left the team to see a specialist. While it was assumed he was going to see someone about his groin injury, according to CSNWashington.com, McPhee said that is "not necessarily" the case.

Green has missed the past 15 games and has not been on the ice since Dec. 8, when he left the practice rink slamming his stick. McPhee said his Green's recovery "plateaued," which led the team to seek a new method of rehab, according to the Washington Post.

"We just sent him to see somebody that might be able to help, we're not sure (if it will)," McPhee said, according to the Post. "Hopefully when he joins the club on the road he'll be skating with the club -- getting closer. He was progressing then sort of plateaued. We thought we would try something else. Don't know if it will make a difference but we'll know more in a couple of days."

St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka has been placed on injured reserve and is out for at least two weeks with an ankle injury, general manager Doug Armstrong announced Tuesday morning.

Sobotka was injured during practice Monday when he was hit in the left ankle with a puck. He has two goals and 10 points this season for the Blues in 27 games. He had a career-high seven goals and 29 points last season for the Blues.

"It doesn't sound too serious in the sense that he's not a surgical candidate or anything like that," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong told Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch. "But we're going to re-evaluate in a couple of weeks."

The New Jersey Devils acquired defenseman Kurtis Foster from the Anaheim Ducks on Monday in a multi-player deal.

In exchange for Foster and minor-league goalie Timmo Pielmeier, the Devils sent the Ducks forward Rod Pelley, defenseman Mark Fraser and a seventh-round draft pick.

The Devils were looking for help on defense after Andy Greene was recently sidelined for four weeks with a broken toe and Anton Volchenkov suffered a hand injury that has left him day-to-day. The team called up Matt Taormina and Alexander Urbom, who made their season debuts on Saturday afternoon against the Canadiens.

The 30-year-old Foster, a second-round pick by Calgary in the 2000 Entry Draft, had 1 goal and 2 points in nine games this season for Anaheim. In 340 career games for the Thrashers, Wild, Lightning, Oilers and Ducks, he has 38 goals and 143 points.

Foster scored a career-high 10 goals for Minnesota in the 2005-06 season, but suffered a potentially career-threatening broken leg near the end of the 2007-08 campaign when he was checked into the boards racing back on an icing touch-up. Foster returned to play 10 games for the Wild near the end of the following season and scored a career-high 42 points for Tampa Bay in 2009-10, becoming a finalist for the Masterton Trophy.

Pielmeier, 22, appeared in 10 games with Elmira (ECHL) this season, posting a 4-5-0 record with a 3.45 goals-against average and .896 save percentage. He made his NHL debut with Anaheim last season, making seven saves in relief of Curtis McElhinney on Feb. 19, 2011 at St. Louis.

Pelley, 27, has appeared in 211 games with New Jersey, collecting 7 goals and 26 points. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound center has appeared in seven games with New Jersey this season, going scoreless with seven penalty minutes.

Fraser, 25, has played 98 games with the Devils, earning 3 goals and 8 points. Selected by New Jersey in the third round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Fraser has gone scoreless in four games this season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday signed free agent forward Antti Miettinen to a two-year, one-way contract.

Miettinen, 31, had been playing for Ak-Bars Kazan of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, but is no longer on the active roster. The Finnish right wing last appeared in an NHL game in 2010-11 as a member of the Minnesota Wild when he produced 16 goals and 35 points in 73 games. He also tied for the team lead in power-play goals (8) and game-winners (4). He had 20 goals and 44 points in 2009-10.

Miettinen, 6-foot, 190 pounds, must clear waivers before joining the Lightning.

A native of Hameenlinna, Miettinen has skated in 472 career NHL games with the Wild and Dallas Stars, collecting 89 goals and 212 points. He's played in 24 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, all with Dallas, notching 2 goals and 5 points with 10 penalty minutes.

Miettinen was originally drafted by the Stars in the seventh round (No. 224) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

Montreal is expected to have new defenseman Tomas Kaberle in its lineup Saturday afternoon in New Jersey. Whether fellow blueliner Chris Campoli joins Kaberle in the lineup remains to be seen.

Campoli (hamstring) has been practiced with the Canadiens all week after being cleared by the team doctors. He said Friday he is cleared to play and he hopes to play Saturday.

If he does, it will only be his second game with the Habs since signing a one-year contract in the offseason. Campoli injured his left hamstring in the season-opener and hasn't played since.

"I feel good -- physically I'm in great shape," Campoli said according to Canadiens.com. "There's going to be an adjustment period, obviously, time-wise and game-wise. There are things you'll see in a game that you can't really deal with in practice. I'm excited about getting into it. It's been a long road back for me and I just want to get in and contribute."

The Habs will be without captain Brian Gionta, who did not make the trip to New Jersey due to a lower-body injury.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will welcome back a couple of forwards to the lineup Friday night when they face the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center.

Clarke MacArthur will return after missing one contest with a right shoulder injury, while Colby Armstrong is back after a 23-game absence because of a sprained ankle Oct. 19 against Winnipeg.

“I’m looking to come in and provide some energy and play hard,” Armstrong told reporters. “I have to play the same way I have always played – getting too old to change now.”

Joe Colborne was sent to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League to make room on the roster. James Reimer is expected to get the nod in goal for the Maple Leafs, who can draw even with Boston on points at the top of the Northeast Division with a victory (though the Bruins will have two games in hand).