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New Jersey Devils: Losing Sami Vatanen Could Really Hurt

By Vincent Parise

EDMONTON, AB - NOVEMBER 8: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils exchanges words with Mikko Koskinen #19 of the Edmonton Oilers on November 8, 2019, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB - NOVEMBER 8: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils exchanges words with Mikko Koskinen #19 of the Edmonton Oilers on November 8, 2019, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils lost one of their best defensemen in the loss to the Edmonton Oilers and that could really sting if he is out long term.

Sami Vatanen has been the best defenseman on the New Jersey Devils so far this season so the idea of him being out with an injury is scary. He took an elbow to the head in the Devil’s big loss to the Edmonton Oilers. It was an ugly 4-0 loss by New Jersey and one of their best players missing most of the game makes it even worst. If he is going to miss any time somebody else is going to have to step up otherwise things might get even more ugly.

This game saw all three of Matt Tennyson, Kevin Rooney, and John Hayden sit in the press box which means that this lineup probably had more skill than any other lineup that John Hynes put out there this season. It didn’t help because it might have been the worst game of the season for New Jersey. It was bad and they let it slip away even more in the third period.

They stayed with the Oilers for the first half of the game and even when the Oilers were up 1-0 it felt like the Devils could tie it at any moment. Then things went south when the Oilers scored two quick ones and there was no chance they were ever coming back. Cory Schneider wasn’t the worst he’s ever been but he wasn’t very good either.

That is two losses in a row now after a stretch of very good games for the Devils. They were knocking on the door of being NHL .500 and now they are a few games away from that again. To top it all off is the Vatanen news and all we can do is hope that he is going to be okay. He has four goals and four assists for eight points in 15 games so far this season. He is having a great start in every zone and he does things that really help the Devils in all areas.

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Next on the list is a rematch of the Hughes Bowl. Jack Hughes and the Devils are headed to play against Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks. The Devils won round one of this matchup a few weeks ago when they beat the Canucks 1-0 on the back of Jack’s first NHL goal. Vancouver is playing well all around to start the season so the Devils need to be so much better if they don’t want a repeat of this Edmonton game.

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