NHL

Devils’ Martin to miss 4 more weeks

Paul Martin’s chances at making the U.S. roster for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver suffered a major setback this week.

The Devils defenseman underwent what general manager Lou Lamoriello described as “minor surgery” on his broken left arm, and will miss at least another four weeks.

“The outside of the fracture has been healing, but the inside has not been healing at the rate we wanted it to heal,” Lamoriello said after yesterday’s practice. “So, there’s been some minor surgery, and he has been re-casted.

“We didn’t want to take any chances with him.”

The Post reported last week that Martin, who broke his arm against the Penguins on Oct. 24, had taken a week off from skating, and was expected to take off another, after he wasn’t cleared to return to the ice following the removal of his cast.

But after Tuesday’s surgery to ensure the inside of the fracture was healing properly, Martin’s return has now been pushed back until at least the end of January.

Now, what began as a four- to six-week injury has the potential of wrecking Martin’s dreams of playing for Team USA in the Olympics. With the Olympic hockey tournament set to begin on Feb. 16 — just over seven weeks away — sitting for at least another four weeks leaves the 28-year-old defenseman perilously close to missing out on a chance to represent his country.

After being named to Team USA’s taxi squad in 2006, but not playing in any games, Martin was likely to play a key role for the team in Vancouver, assuming he would be healthy enough to play.

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In other injury news, right winger David Clarkson made his return to practicing with the team for the first time since he fractured his leg against the Bruins on Nov. 27, after skating on his own for five days. Lamoriello said center Dainius Zubrus, who has been out since suffering a fractured right kneecap against the Predators Nov. 19, should begin skating next week.

tbontemps@nypost.com