Yeah Vats has a reputation for lazy offseasons and slow starts, and this year it's really come back and bit him hard. He waited and waited for a multiyear contract which never came, obviously missed camp, then waited ages for visa clearance, and finally got mired in the Devils' Covid mess and had to quarantine. When he finally hit the ice he was brutal for the first 10 games or so. This coincided with Devils spiraling down the standings which didn't win him any friends, even if he was hardly a singular culprit.
Since that atrocious start he's been decent though. He's been reasonably solid with Murray on 5v5 with stats to show for it, and he's been instrumental in fixing that tire fire of PK that Devils had for the 1st half of the season. His offense is mostly barren but he's been getting few OZ starts and little to no PP. Severson and Subban are obviously ahead of him in pecking order so he's clearly the odd guy out.
His skating is sometimes suspect and he will get coned by explosive skaters from time to time. I don't buy the argument that his positioning would be particularly bad; I think quite the opposite that he's a very literal systems guy who will follow the coaches' master plan to the letter while others may falter, which then will look as if he's out of sync. As NJ defensive coaching of late has not exactly won plaudits, you're free to argue which on-ice strategy is the best, but his is what it is.
But yeah, I fully expect that he will get if not claimed then traded for peanuts right after. I think he deserves one more shot in the big league and some team will give him that, but it's 50/50 at this stage if he isn't KHL bound next year.
This is sad, the moment he stopped using his slapshot in Anaheim i knew something was wrong and he wasn't the same anymore but didn't think he'd fall this low when they traded him 
