Mark Louis, a 6ft 4ins Canadian defenceman, is back patrolling the blue-line for Cardiff Devils and that’s a major boost for the Elite League leaders.

The man from Ponoka, Alberta returned from injury for the 3-1 win against Nottingham Panthers and has resumed his partnership with Gleason Fournier on D.

Both are among the most fluent skaters in British hockey and head coach Andrew Lord says: “Mark is one of the best skating D-men I have ever played alongside and it’s great to have him back on the ice.

“He is a big, tough, defensive defenceman, while he has great skating ability. Mark played nearly 200 American League games and he is a work horse and a great teammate.”

Louis spoke to former Devils players Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Russell about the Welsh club before making the move to Elite League hockey and he says: “They had great things to say about the city of Cardiff and the Devils organisation.

“My first contact with the club was via Neil Francis via Facebook and I’m delighted things worked out this well.”

Devils have big fixtures in League and Challenge Cup ahead of them, playing Edinburgh Capitals at Ice Arena Wales on Saturday (7pm) before flying to Scotland for their cup quarter-final first leg at Dundee Stars in midweek.

Chris Culligan was rested from Cardiff’s match against Panthers this week with a minor injury, but he is almost fit and Lord will have selection decisions to make over the next week or so.

Devils have 15 import players, one more than they can ice in any one match, and that will give Lord room to manoeuvre with his team facing four matches in nine days.

After playing Edinburgh at home and Dundee away, Devils have a home double-header against Sheffield Steelers on Saturday, December 10 (7pm) and Nottingham Panthers the following evening (6pm).

Ticket information for Devils home matches is available via 0800 0842 666.

Devils have only one match this weekend, but there is ice hockey action at Ice Arena Wales on Sunday when Cardiff Fire entertain Bristol Pitbulls (6pm).

Sam Smith, a former Devils forward, makes his debut for Fire, who have won all seven of their league and cup matches this season.

This is Fire’s last home match of 2016 and tickets cost £6 adults and £1 for children under 12. Family tickets are £12.