With the NHL officially open for business at last after four months in the dark, teams all around the league had their first real practice of this mini-season.  With it, camp rosters were officially set and for the Devils there were few surprises on it.  Among goalies and defense, only Adam Larsson was ‘called up’ from Albany, though he’s expected to be a full-time starter this year despite the current logjam on D with seven starting-caliber players plus supersub Peter Harrold.  Overall, the Devils invited twenty-eight players to camp with two goalies, eight defensemen and eighteen forwards in the mix to be among the final twenty-three man roster on Opening Night this Saturday.

Among the forwards are a few newer faces, including first-round pick Stefan Matteau who was recalled from his junior team.  Though he was left off the US junior gold-medal team, he will be getting a looksee from coach Pete DeBoer and the rest of the Devils’ staff.  Also getting a look are a few forwards from Albany, including recent signee Bobby Butler, expected to win a spot as a scoring winger after an impressive stint in Albany during the lockout with 15 goals (23 points) in 32 games with a +8.  Another looking to make an impression is recent overseas signee Harri Pesonen, who has a 6-8-14-E line in 31 games.  Butler was given #9 – last worn by the departed captain of last year’s Eastern Conference Champs – and Pesonen got #15, an indication that Petr Sykora (who wore that number last year) will also not be returning.

Obviously Jacob Josefson, Stephen Gionta and Adam Henrique – after he comes back from thumb surgery in a couple weeks – are all locks to be on the team, but after 100+ NHL games Mattias Tedenby is getting one more chance to impress.  Following a slow start in Albany he’s picked it up a little recently (9-8-17 and -5 in 30 games) but probably has an uphill climb in order to win a roster spot this time around.  Also in camp is Tim Sestito, who always seems to be hanging around the fringes.  And our one non-roster tryout is none other than Mathieu Darche, the 36-year old winger most recently of Montreal (5 goals, 7 assists in 61 games during 2011-12).  Best known these days for some of his strong opinions during the lockout, he does provide another option to fill in on the third/fourth line with PK duties.

Of the 28 players invited to camp, 25 were on the ice this afternoon in Newark.  Only the injured Henrique and Josefson (only day-to-day) did not practice, as well as Ilya Kovalchuk who was still in Russia playing in the KHL All-Star game.  Until recently, Kovalchuk’s absence was somewhat contreversial but GM Lou Lamoriello finally spoke in depth this afternoon and revealed that he had no issue with Kovalchuk playing in Russia, but couldn’t give ‘official’ permission because of insurance concerns.  After a week of what turned out to be much ado about nothing and didn’t need to be as dramatic as it was – the Devils’ expensive winger will be flying back Tuesday and participate in practice Wednesday.  His teammates are already planning to give him the business – about video of a figure-skating competition that Kovy participated in during All-Star weekend.  Let’s just say I’m sure he won’t be switching careers anytime soon.

Speaking of Kovalchuk, the issue of whether he will be captain or not should be resolved shortly.  According to coach DeBoer, they have had internal discussions and will probably name a captain before the season opener.  DeBoer also said that he and his staff ‘watched every minute of every game in Albany’ this year, so clearly even with a mini-minicamp, the Devils are more than well-versed on what the seven recent callups from the AHL have done.  DeBoer’s also covered his bases talking with former coach Jacques Lemaire and former Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice about coaching in a 48-game season (both were coaching in 1995, the only other time the NHL played 48 games in the modern era).  Still left unresolved on the ice is the logjam on defense, but given a market where former Devil Kurtis Foster astonishingly got a two-year deal from the Flyers, I’m sure Lou will let the market develop before making a move.

Of course, practice was not (and will not be) open to the public today, a sore spot for Devil fans since the move to Newark after they left South Mountain – where practices were open.  Whatever real or imagined security concerns, or distraction concerns, it’s an opportunity missed to get people more excited about the Devils.  Judging by the early returns, fans just want to see their teams again.  Like in Tampa, which attracted 5500 to a team autograph session/open practice today.  Or St. Louis, where 6000 fans attended their team’s first official practice with this tweet from Darren Pang afterward:

Clearly, despite the (cough) best intentions of the NHL, they still haven’t been able to drive the true fans away yet.  That said, I wouldn’t want to be Gary Bettman in June when the commisioner awards the Cup at a rink to be determined, then will undoubtedly be showered with boos during the draft in Newark.  Clearly for better or for worse, the majority of fans are putting the lion’s share of the blame for this work stoppage and most of the league’s issues on a commisioner who’s locked out the sport three times and apparently are not in the mood to punish players or their teams for it.