New Jersey Devils: Five Most Tradable Players
By Mike Luci
Sami Vatanen, Defenseman
I previously wrote about the pros and cons of trading Sami Vatanen, who is coming off his first full season with the New Jersey Devils that was plagued by injuries. Vatanen has one year remaining on his contract that boasts a $4.875 AAV. He’s 28-years old and despite being in line for a hefty pay raise one year from now—especially if he performs well in 2019-2020—a lot of teams could still find value in acquiring a player of Vatanen’s caliber.
If healthy and in the right situation, Vatanen is a fixture on a defense’s top-two pairings and is capable of posting 40+ points. Due to his cap hit, the Devils would probably have to use Vatanen in a deal for a high-salary asset, namely from a team that is seeking an established roster player in return.
Teams could be deterred by Vatanen’s injuries last season (he suffered two concussions) and despite the circumstances, his 2018-2019 numbers don’t necessarily help his case. It’s not to say team’s won’t be disinterested in Vatanen, but don’t expect Ray Shero to pull off any lopsided one-for-ones with the left-shooting blue liner.
Like I mentioned in my recent piece on Vatanen, the only way Shero would probably trade him is if he ever became expendable. Unless Shero is receiving a defenseman in exchange for Vatanen or acquires one in a separate transaction, it would have to be a bold or meaningful trade for the Devils to part with the tenured defenseman.