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Can New Jersey Devils Compete With Sami Vatanen As Number One?

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 27: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils in action against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 27, 2018 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 27: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils in action against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 27, 2018 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils have a laundry list of duties this offseason, but upgrading the defense is far and away number one. However, do they really need a number one guy with Sami Vatanen already in the room?

The New Jersey Devils defense is still the major flaw of the team, despite how much better it got in a calendar year. Adding Will Butcher and Mirco Mueller before the year gave them one really good top-four guy and a decent depth piece. Ben Lovejoy found a much better role, and was actually a plus player for much of the season. By far the biggest piece of the puzzle was trading for Sami Vatanen.

It took him a little over a month to hit his stride, but once the calendar changed to 2018 he was the number one guy. For much of the second half, he was asked to drag around what’s left of Andy Greene, who looked much better with Vatanen.

The emergence of Vatanen made this defense go from absolutely bleak to passable. Obviously, playing behind Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm didn’t allow him to really step up with the Anaheim Ducks. That made the trade a slight question mark. It didn’t take long to change that narrative.

The big question is, will Sami Vatanen be enough next season?

Obviously, the Devils can’t do nothing on the blue line this offseason. However, is it John Carlson, Erik Karlsson or bust? What I mean by that is this: is it absolutely necessary to get a player better than Vatanen for the Devils to continue to be a playoff contender?

It seems like an obvious yes, but I’m not so sure. Vatanen was carrying this defense on their run to the playoffs. The Devils had a middle of the pack defense stats wise, allowing 2.9 goals per game. That was with two starting goalies with save percentages under .915 on the season. Yes, Cory Schneider was terrific in the first half and Keith Kinkaid was a monster in the last two months, but the numbers don’t lie. Their seasons overall wouldn’t say the Devils have the best goalie in the league.

Vatanen is great. He can’t do this alone, but even if the Devils miss out on Karlsson and Carlson he may not have to. Calvin De Haan is a player lots of people have tied to the Devils. Jack Johnson is another player that will be available through free agency. Devils GM Ray Shero is a trade connoisseur. There are moves to grab a top-four defenseman without paying for a superstar.

Devils fans should temper expectations. This team can continue to compete without a $7 million defenseman. For argument’s sake, let’s say all they do is sign De Haan to replace John Moore. Their defense will look something like this:

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Vatanen-De Haan

Butcher-Greene

Severson-Lovejoy

Mueller/Santini as extras

That’s not terrible. Sure, it’s not one of the best defenses in the league, but it’s definitely a blue line that can win in this league. This would put some more pressure on the shoulders of Kinkaid and Schneider, but if they find a way to play above league average then it would be fine.

This isn’t to say the Devils shouldn’t shoot for the moon on Carlson, Karlsson and even Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but it’s just saying if they don’t get those three it’s not a tragedy. Have faith in Vatanen to be the man when this team needs him.

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