New Jersey Devils bring back Sami Vatanen on one-year deal

The 29-year-old blueliner will make $2 million in 2021.

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The New Jersey Devils have brought back a familiar face.

Almost a year after trading Sami Vatanen to the Carolina Hurricanes – yes, it has been that long – the Devils have signed the veteran blueliner to a one-year deal worth $2 million.

This comes after the Devils were linked to Zdeno Chara and, most recently, Ben Hutton. Clearly, adding another defender with real NHL experience was a priority for GM Tom Fitzgerald.

Vatanen joins Damon Severson, Ryan Murray, P.K. Subban, Will Butcher, Ty Smith, Dmitry Kulikov and Connor Carrick on what is suddenly looking like a very crowded backend.

There may not be much in the way of top-end talent, but there are a lot of guys who can play.

With Vatanen in the mix, the Devils now have six backs that dressed on a nightly basis last season – as well as Smith, one of the more promising defense prospects in the league, and a rotational player in Carrick.

Vatanen is not without faults, however, he is a competent player and one certainly capable of holding his own in a depth role.

He averaged 36 points per 82 games during his three-year stint with the Devils. He is at his best on the power play but has experience playing a regular penalty killing role as well. He will give Lindy Ruff a lot of flexibility.

I don’t think there is another shoe to drop here. I think the Devils just want to gather as many NHL defenders as they can.

They have to play a lot of games in a short period of time. There will be back-to-backs, injuries, and (likely) COVID cases. The Devils, and every other team, will need all hands on deck.

This also gives the Devils more ammo to use at the trade deadline if they end up selling, which is more likely than not. Veteran defenders are always in demand. Always. And playing such a condensed schedule in the middle of a pandemic will only add to that.

Obviously, the Devils don’t want to be sellers. If it comes to that, though, they’ll have an abundance of pieces they could move. Vatanen, along with Murray, headlines a group of four NHL defenders the Devils have on expiring contracts.

He’ll make the Devils a better team. And if they’re not good enough, he could fetch an extra asset or two to help improve the future outlook. We saw that last year when he fetched Janne Kuokkanen and a draft pick (Nico Daws), and we might well see it again.

This is a no-risk move for the Devils; one I quite like.

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