On Thursday morning, Sami Vatanen woke up to a phone call, one that the player most likely will remember for the rest of his life.
- Sure, it was a very different wake-up call, from what I'm used to. I was asleep when the phone rang. Usually I don't answer the phone, but this time I happend to do just that. GM said, you have been traded, and he thanked me for these years. It wasn't much more than that. Of course, it was quite a shock at first - after all, I've spent a number of years in Anaheim.
- When I got 'coffee in my machinery', well, then this day got going on as well. Now we're flying to Colorado, continuing our trip with the new team. Luckily, I had a lot of clothes with me, so I won't have to travel without clothes...
- They [NJ] have a young team, and they've started to get things in order. I'm excited to meet new challenges. I've already talked with them, however not yet about player roles or such. The phone has been ringing this morning, enough for a whole year... What is obvious, is that they're happy to have me.
- This morning got quite confusing. Woke up to the phone call, then I dialled my family in Finland to tell them they can change their tickets for Anaheim. Then I called the GM and a few others in NJ, and started rearranging flights. We'll calmly see, what happens next.
((the article states Sami appeared to be joking around, and being in quite a good mood))