New Jersey Devils: What does the future hold for Patrik Elias?

Patrik Elias made his return to the New Jersey Devils, but what does the future hold for one of the best players in franchise history?

After being out for nearly four months, Elias made his return against the Buffalo Sabres, as he played just over 14 minutes in his return. The Devils suffered a 3-1 loss to the Sabres in Elias’ return, but there was no wait in asking about Elias’ future with the team.

“Honestly, he’s only played 14 games this season. I haven’t given (next season) a lot of consideration just because we’ve been focused on trying to get him back for this year,” GM Ray Shero told Rich Chere of NJ.com.

“At one point it didn’t look that promising, but he never gave up hope. Nor did we. When we ruled out Mike Cammalleri (for the rest of the season) we said we weren’t going to rule out Patrik because he was still holding out hope. He obviously had a little turn for the better, and being able to play last night was important.

“I was hoping he’d, at least, be able to play the last game (Saturday night). That doesn’t mean it would be his last game. I haven’t talked to him about that. That’s something we’ll discuss after the season and maybe give it a little time as well. See how he’s feeling and how his body feels and go from there. So not a lot has happened yet.”

“I don’t know,” Shero said to Chere. “We haven’t had any discussions about next year with our coaches yet in terms of what fits here. Once we have our player evaluation meetings, which aren’t going to take place right after the season, the first step will be talking to Patrik. It will be good to give him some time and, unfortunately, when you don’t make the playoffs, what you have is time. So we’ll try to use that, which someone once said.”

Elias was held out of practice on Wednesday to give him a day off before Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“That’s the plan,” coach John Hynes said to Chere. “Just give him today (off). He did some off-ice stuff and the plan is for him to play tomorrow.”

Hynes was impressed by the performance of Elias against the Sabres, as the soon to be 40-year-old still has some game.

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“When you look at him, he’s still one of the most skilled players on the ice. His hockey sense, hands, and ability to see plays are why he’s been such an elite player for so long. You could see that last night,” Hynes noted to Chere. “I think if his timing was a little better he had a great opportunity to score a goal early in the game.

“He was effective. And to his credit, he’s in a good shape. He didn’t look out of place speed-wise last night at all. That’s one of the reasons we gave him today. Just to rest up his body and hopefully, we can get an even better performance from him. A second game a lot of time is better for your timing.”

Elias still believes that he has some game, and the rest of the season is an opportunity to prove to the Devils’ organization that he should be next season.