The New Jersey Devils have answers to a trade they made months ago.
The New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes made a trade right near the NHL Trade Deadline. They sent defenseman Sami Vatanen to the Canes in exchange for prospect Janne Kuokkanen and a conditional pick. The conditions on the pick seemed pretty self-explanatory to us. It had to do with playing time, with one condition dealing with the regular season and the other dealing with the playoffs. Well, it seems like things weren’t so simple to the Hurricanes.
General manager Don Wadell has said on record that he didn’t think the Hurricanes owed the Devils anything else, declaring the deal finished. Well, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the league didn’t agree.
The league made a final decision, and the conditions on the trade got even more complicated than they originally were. So let’s go through them all, shall we?
The Devils get the Hurricanes 2020 3rd-round pick if they beat the New York Rangers in the play-in round, then Sami Vatanen plays 70% of their remaining playoff games. The Rangers games do not impact this condition.
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The Devils get the Hurricanes 2020 4th-round pick if Vatanen plays two games against the Rangers and the Hurricanes win the series, but he isn’t able to play 70% of their remaining playoff games.
The Hurricanes can choose between their 2020 or 2021 4th-round pick if Vatanen plays two games against the Rangers, but they lose.
The Devils get nothing if Vatanen fails to play two games against the Rangers or 70% of their remaining playoff games.
Did you get that? It is confusing, but the Devils seem like they made out in this ruling. While the Hurricanes were trying to get out of paying anything at all, all Vatanen has to do is play two games and the Devils get a pick on top of Kuokkanen for an unrestricted free agent. This is becoming a bigger and bigger win for the Devils.