The 2023-24 New Jersey Devils season opens in just 45 days (at the time of the writing). On October 4, the Devils take on the Buffalo Sabres in Prague, Czechia. To get ready for the season, we're doing a daily piece countdown of all the numbers of the Devils sweaters and moments in Devils franchise history. Since we are 45 days away, we will focus on Sami Vatanen, one of the few decent players in the Ray Shero era.
Sami Vatanen, the defenseman from Finland, was drafted in the 4th round in the 2009 NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. Vatanen spent the first five seasons of his career in Anaheim, from the 2012-13 season to the middle of the 2017-18 season. Vatanen’s best season as a Duck came in the 2015-16 season, where he produced 38 points. Vatanen was the highest-scoring defenseman for the Ducks in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
While Vatanen was a great defensive player for the Ducks, the organization most likely felt they got better defense longevity in Cam Fowler. Ray Shero needed a veteran defenseman to stabilize the defense and help the youth like Damon Severson, Will Butcher, and Mirco Mueller. On November 30, 2017, the Devils acquired Vatanen while trading away fan favorite Adam Henrique and forward Joseph Blandini. The teams also swapped third-round picks.
In the next 57 games, he had 25 assists, the fourth-highest on the Devils that season, and he did help improve Will Butcher’s game. The following season, Vatanen’s numbers dipped due to injuries he suffered during the season, like a leg injury he sustained in a game against the Philadephia Flyers on the road, as well as a concussion in January. Vatanen did have his most memorable moment on December 21, 2018, against the Senators at home when he made a save on a Brady Tkachuk shot in front of the net, which led to the crazy sequence from Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall to turn it into a goal.
Vatanen’s 2019-20 season would see improvements in points, but more injuries piled up, as in November of 2019, he was injured in a game against the Oilers; he got a bruise on a blocked shot in a game against Dallas in February of 2020. Because of the injuries, the Devils traded Vatanen to the Carolina Hurricanes on February 24, 2020 for Janne Kuokkanen, Frederick Claesson, and a 3rd round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, which turned into current goalie Nico Daws.
In the playoffs in Carolina, he scored 2 points in their series against the New York Rangers. When the season returned after the pandemic, Vatanen signed back with the Devils for a one-year, $2 million deal. However, Vatanen scored 9 points that season in 30 games before being put on waivers and would get picked up by the Dallas Stars, though he would play nine games that season. After that season, Vatanen would play in the Switzerland hockey league in the NL with the Genève-Servette HC. In his first season with them, his numbers improved dramatically with a 39-point season, before playing 13 games the following season with 14 points. Vatanen was a solid defenseman in the NHL, but injuries prevented him from becoming an excellent player for the Devils.