The New Jersey Devils lost their best defenseman for the final game of the season, when Nikita Kucherov hit Sami Vatanen high in game four of the first round. Now, Vatanen confirms our fears that he has a concussion.
Bad news came out of move-out day for the New Jersey Devils. While a lot of the quotes coming from the players include the usual anecdotes of “we weren’t satisfied” yet “we proved a lot of people wrong.” It was a day without a ton of news, that is until reporters spoke to defenseman Sami Vatanen.
We haven’t seen Vatanen since he was laid out by Nikita Kucherov in game four against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He immediately went down to the locker room, and never made the trip back to Florida. Was the hit dirty? Should it have led to a suspension? We’ll let you be the judge.
Vatanen confirmed today that he got a concussion from this hit. The Devils were a completely different team without him on the ice. They actually played decently well on defense, although a lot of that had to do with the magic that was Cory Schneider. Without Vatanen, the Devils were having major trouble keeping the offensive zone and getting out of the defensive zone.
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Now that we know that Vatanen was concussed on the play, one must wonder why Kucherov received zero punishment for the hit. Not even a fine for a hit straight to the chin. If you want to say the “principle point of contact” wasn’t the head, but there was clear intent. That intent led to a top player getting a concussion.
This is the first reported concussion I can find for Vatanen. The Devils are lucky. If this was a player like Marcus Johansson, we’d be worried about the implications on his career. The fact they let him talk to the media today is a very good sign. A player with post-concussion symptoms doesn’t talk to the media.
It still isn’t great. Everyone knows at this point that once you get your first concussion, the second one is easier to get. It continues from there. Still, I suppose it could be worse. It seems like with some rest and an offseason to build up strength, Vatanen will be ready once next season begins.