Sami Vatanen’s days with the New Jersey Devils were inevitably numbered as the 2020 NHL trade deadline rapidly came to a close. Devils fans, like many hockey fans on deadline day, were vigorously refreshing Twitter to find out where Vatanen would be headed. News hit close to 3 p.m. that Vatanen was heading down south to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Janne Kuokkanen, a conditional 4th-round pick and fringe roster player Fredrik Claesson.
New Jersey Devils Twitter and message boards alike don’t seem to be too enamored with the return in the Sami Vatanen trade. The reality is a soon to be unrestricted free agent who has been hampered with injuries over the duration of his career was not going to garner a king’s ransom.