In my eyes, Sami Vatanen is unequivocally and by far the best defenseman on the Devils blueline since we acquired him.Okay save the first 5 games since he's settled in, he is the #1 guy.
The gap is huge in a lot of fans eyes between the #1 and #2 guy. He eats tons of minutes, amazing offense play, fairly solid defensive play. He's getting all the tough match-ups with Greene as his partner (who is not as good as he used to be)
I would venture to say he is one of the best all around defenseman that NJ has had quite some some time, as well. Maybe arguably so, but its looking harder to debate it.
Unfortunately, that is not too big of an accomplishment. Andy Greene from a few years back and Larsson the year before he was traded are the only consistently competent defensemen they've had in quite some time.
Regardless, Vats has been spectacular. Like any decent offensive defenseman, he's had some brutal turnovers, but other than that, he's been way better in the D zone than I expected. And I didn't expect him to be able to eat up minutes the way he has too.