The New Jersey Devils completed their midseason fire sale by dealing Sami Vatanen to Carolina and Louis Domingue to Vancouver.
It was a busy Monday for the New Jersey Devils, who made a total of three trades before Monday’s trade deadline. After trading Wayne Simmonds to Buffalo earlier in the day, the team moved defenseman Sami Vatanen to Carolina and goalie Louis Domingue to Vancouver per the Devils.
In exchange for Vatanen, New Jersey landed forward Janne Kuokkanen, defenseman Fredrik Claesson and the Hurricanes’ conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. As part of the trade, the Devils will pay 50% Vatanen’s salary.
Kuokkanen has spent the 2019-20 season in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, where he’s scored 12 goals with an impressive 30 assists for a total of 42 points.
Claesson has also been in Charlotte this season and has three goals and 16 assists for 19 points.
The Devils have not yet announced whether or not the two players will report to New Jersey or Binghamton (AHL).
In the Domingue trade with the Canucks, the Devils swapped the backup goaltender for 27-year old goalie Zane McIntyre.
McIntyre has played in 24 games this season with Vancouver’s AHL affiliate in Utica, NY. He has posted an 11-10-2 record with a 3.16 goals-against average this season. He will report to Binghamton upon arrival with the Devils organization.
With the trade deadline in the books, the Devils traded a total of six veterans this season as Taylor Hall, Andy Greene, and Blake Coleman were traded earlier in the season.
New Jersey now holds nine total draft picks for 2020. Those picks include three first-round selections (NJ, Arizona, and Vancouver via Tampa Bay), three fourth-round selections (NJ, Boston, and Carolina) and the club’s own selection in rounds five, six, and seven.
The Devils will look to finish the season strong as they currently sit last in the Metropolitan Division with just 58 points.
