Confirmed with Link: Vatanen to CAR for Janne Kuokkanen, Frederik Claesson and conditional 4th rounder

[NJDevs26]

Brian Lawton on NHL networking on the Friedman reporter deal. Says Vatanen is a better player than Greene and Scandella who returned 2nd’s

Kuokannen was basically our 2nd rounder. He was drafted as a 2 and has had a decent AHL career, is still 21. Might as well take a chance on that as opposed to a 45-60 pick that's probably 3-4 years away from contributing.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

can't we just split the difference and make it a conditional 3rd, that becomes a 2nd if he plays 10 games? make it so..

 

[ScottyK]

Still neither team has posted the trade on its official Twitter, weird.

Not weird at all, central registry is backed up. Teams usually don't post trades until that process is completed

 

[NJDevils17]

You can be mad about the trade or whatever but he’s on IR, missing the last 3 weeks. If he misses another week or even two, he could play less than 10 regular season games.

He got injured at a bad time, but what the heck did anyone expect? We couldn’t keep him and we definitely shouldn’t have been trying to resign him anyway.

 

[Darkauron]

Teams can officially post the trade until the trade call goes through. Probably a big backup right now

 

[Billdo]

Brian Lawton on NHL networking on the Friedman reporter deal. Says Vatanen is a better player than Greene and Scandella who returned 2nd’s

Which is true but Vatanen hasn't played in almost a month and nobody's buying damaged goods at a premium.

 

[JK3]

Dammit glassman.

 

[NJDevils17]

Tried to tell y’all he return would be disappointing. Can only do so much.

 

[MichaelJ]

Kuokkanen can be a solid middle6 forward, glad to have him. I remember hoping the Devils could snag him in the 2016 2nd round.

 

[Devils731]

I was worried the Devils would end up having to keep Vats because of his injury or trade him for next to nothing, so this deal seems fine to me.

 

[Shakir ONeal]

Wanted more but it’s essentially a 2nd (more valuable as he’s progressed well and NHL ready) and a conditional 3rd..similar return to what the top defensemen have been going for this week

 

[Combat Koala]

Not sure what to think about this. I like Kuokkanen as a prospect, but was hoping for at least a second rounder to be included or a better prospect 1-for-1. Then again, trading an injured player doesn't really get you all that much if it's a player of Vatanen's caliber.

 

[Triumph]

The trouble with Kuokkanen is that he is waiver-eligible starting next year. It's unlikely he gets claimed, but that just complicates where he goes next season.

That said, I do like getting Claesson back in the deal because Binghamton could use a left-shot D whether it's Mermis or Claesson.

 

[MadDevil]

Plus Kuokkanen is probably closer to being an NHL player than a 2nd round pick would have been.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I like the prospect. Not a terrible deal. Better than giving him an awful contract.

 

[Shakir ONeal]

Plus Kuokkanen is probably closer to being an NHL player than a 2nd round pick would have been.

Correct and injury obviously played a factor

 

[OmNomNom]

The trouble with Kuokkanen is that he is waiver-eligible starting next year. It's unlikely he gets claimed, but that just complicates where he goes next season.

That said, I do like getting Claesson back in the deal because Binghamton could use a left-shot D whether it's Mermis or Claesson.

not unless he proves himself to be NHL caliber. it'd be a nice problem to have

 

[NjDevsRR]

Kuokkanen is 19th in AHL scoring and the overwhelming majority in that top 20 list is much much older than him.

 

[MichaelJ]

Plus Kuokkanen is probably closer to being an NHL player than a 2nd round pick would have been.

He could probably come up right now and I expect he’ll compete for a spot next year.

 

[Lou is God]

Vatanen is an injured UFA. We have 20 games left. What if he misses another 5-10? People need to really relax on here

So much this

 

[NJDevs26]

Odds are we'll have the roster room for him at this point next year regardless. And we'll see what happens this offseason with Palm and Gusev if either one hesitate on signing long-term (or the Devils balk at the asking price).

 

[mtnet]

If the 4th becomes a 3rd, it can further become a 2nd if Dano can pronounce Kuokkanen the first time Janne is WDHA's player to watch

 

[AfroThunder396]

Kuokkonen is onviously the centerpiece and I'd much rather have him than a 2nd. Right now he's 21 (turning 22 in May), third year pro, producing pretty well in Charlotte (their leading scorer right now). Very good prospect blocked by Carolina's crazy forward depth. At worst he'll be great organizational depth, and has a pretty good shot at being an every day NHL player. TBH I'd have him report directly to NJ, we have a hole at forward with Simmonds being traded and Bingo is rolling right now, don't touch them. Give him the rest of the season and see what you have.

Getting back another D is pretty important with Greene + Vatanen traded and Butcher being injured. Claesson was an analytics darling back in Ottawa, not sure what happened to him but at worst he's a body for Bingo.

It's pretty obvious the injury spooked a lot of potential buyers, which is a shame. He was definitely the best rental D available and unfortunately we lost a lot of value because he blocked a meaningless shot in a lost season.

 

[imMagnum]

Bob was referencing Kuokkonen as the 2nd rounder in his tweet. Not Kuokko + 2nd.

 

[NJDevils17]

Kuokkonen is now what, our 2nd or 3rd best forward prospect?

 

[Forge]

Kuokkonen is probably the target here. A second rounder, 4th rounder...sure, you want the higher pick, but second round picks are also often times just scrap. I mean, we traded a second for Mirco Mueller, didn't we? Teams throw them around quite a bit. Rental Marco Scandella got one. He's hurt...not really anything we can do there. Had he been healthy, I have no doubt that he would have gotten a better pick.