A Look At Potential Trade Targets Linked to the Carolina Hurricanes

D Sami Vatanen (New Jersey Devils)

Not like my opinion really means anything, but Sami Vatanen is currently my number one choice in terms of Canes trade targets; so forgive me if this breakdown might sound like a sale.

If you aren’t familiar with Vatanen, the 28-year old defender seems like a seamless fit for what the Hurricanes are looking for. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote on the weekend that Carolina had shifted their focus away from Kings defenseman Alec Martinez and are honing in on Vatanen, as well as Sharks D Brenden Dillion who we’ll get to later.

Vatanen was originally drafted and started his career with the Anaheim Ducks, and made his way to Jersey in the Adam Henrique trade back in November of 2017. He’s in the last year of his deal – a pending UFA this summer – and the re-building Devils have a lot of money already tied up on their blue line with P.K. Subban, Damon Severson and Will Butcher.

That likely makes Vatanen expendable, and he’ll have suitors on the trade market. He’s one of the Devils’ top possession players, and he’s a very good puck-mover exiting the defensive zone. He leads all Devils D with 23 points in 47 games, and has a ton of skill for a defenseman:

Where Vatanen would really be useful to Carolina is on the powerplay, as he quarterbacks the PP1 in New Jersey. He’s got 9 powerplay assists and averages over 3 minutes of powerplay time per game, and has the best GF/60 rating of any Devil defender on the man advantage.

Vatanen also plays almost 2 minutes per game on the penalty kill. He’s a guy that the Devils coaching staff trusts in all situations, and he regularly plays well over 20 minutes a night.

Maybe the best part about Vatanen is that he’s a right-handed shot, so he could easily slot right alongside Jaccob Slavin on the Canes first pairing. With Gardiner-Pesce and Fleury-Edmundson enjoying solid success as D pairings, a top-pair of Slavin-Vatanen could really steady the Canes defense, while Vatanen and Gardiner man the 2 powerplay units.

Vatanen, who’s likely due for a raise on his current 4.875 AAV contract, would *likely* be purely a rental for the Canes. Regardless, that’s how teams inquiring on him would view him, and as such, LeBrun has speculated a 2020 second-round would likely seal the deal on a Vatanen trade.

Carolina could dangle their own 2nd rounder, or the one that they acquired from the Rangers (for Adam Fox) for Sami, and have a boatload of prospects they could sweeten the deal with if need be. For me, Vatanen seems like a no-brainer – all an-situations player who can run the PP1 and slot right into the top-4 on defense.