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New Jersey Devils: Sami Vatanen Ranked Near Bottom Of Defenseman List

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 03: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the New York Rangers at the Prudential Center on April 3, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 03: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the New York Rangers at the Prudential Center on April 3, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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New rankings show that Sami Vatanen is one of the worst number one defensemen in the NHL. Is the New Jersey Devils top guy getting the recognition he deserves?

Last month, Pucks and Pitchforks looked at the possibility of Sami Vatanen being a true number one defenseman in the NHL. Basically, we came to the conclusion that Vatanen can be a number one defenseman, but that he’s a much better 1B. With that said, new rankings from The Hockey News have Vatanen towards the bottom of the NHL as far as number one defensemen go.

The Devils top defenseman ranked 26th on the list. The article said something nice about Vatanen, talking about his all around worth to the team. However, when you look at some of the defensemen ranked ahead of him we have some questions.

Only five players ranked behind Vatanen, which include Darnell Nurse with Edmonton’s terrible defensive squad and Shea Weber who is going to miss at least half the season with injury. Ironically, the man the Devils missed out on last offseason, Kevin Shattenkirk, was ranked as the worst top defenseman in the league.

Some of the names directly ahead of Vatanen include Zdeno Chara at 25 and Chris Tanev. Both these players are number one defensemen by situation only. While Vatanen is similar in explanation, he’s better now than they are. Sure, we’d like someone better than Vatanen, but it would be hard to get two players good enough to put him on the second pairing. That’s not the case for the 42-year-old Chara and Tanev on the rebuilding Canucks.

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Kris Letang ranked 18th on the list, and that feels like he’s getting some of rub from what he used to be. That seems high unless he can take a step in the right direction this season.

Erik Johnson is a player that seems to be on the same plane as Vatanen, but he was ranked 20th on the list. Interesting we didn’t see Tyson Barrie here, but one could easily argue the Devils would rather have Vatanen than Johnson, but wouldn’t complain with either.

Here’s the point, Devils fans call for the team to get a number one defenseman so they can help the depth, not because of worries about their current number one. Pushing players like Andy Greene and Ben Lovejoy down would really help the defense overall. If the team could clone Vatanen and have two of them, I think every fan is signing up. Vatanen could be considered in the top 20 of this list, but it isn’t the most egregious ranking. Vatanen should get a little more love, but we’d all love to have someone that’s in the top ten on this list.

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