Devils acquire Siegenthaler, waive Gusev

   I'm not sure what I'm watching tonight with the New Jersey Devils hosting Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Cavaliers in New Orleans to face the Pelicans and both games starting at the same time.

And even so, it is Masters Sunday, so the Masters could play a part in what I decide to watch, but the Devils have made another trade as they traded the third-round draft pick that they obtained from Arizona in the Taylor Hall trade last season to Washington for defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.

The trade seems to fit both teams' needs for the upcoming expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken.

Washington had too many defensemen of quality and couldn't protect them all, while New Jersey needed a defenseman worth keeping along with Damon Severson with Ty Smith's lack of experience keeping the team from being forced to use a spot on him.

Adding Siegenthaler allows New Jersey to expose either Will Butcher or P.K. Subban to the Kraken and hope that Seattle selects either the out of favor Butcher or the overpaid Subban to loosen even more salary for a team that is in good shape already as far as cap space.

As for Jonas Siegenthaler, he has been scratched in 30 of Washington's most recent 31 games, but as mentioned, Washington is very deep on their defensive roster.

Siegenthaler didn't score a point in the seven games that he did play this season and in the 2019-20 season, Siegenthaler scored two goals with seven assists in 64 games for Washington.

Siegenthaler is reported to be a good skater and a defense-first blueliner that could develop into a solid second-pairing defenseman.

The 2015 second-round pick hails from Switzerland and is a former national teammate of Nico Hischier on the Swiss junior world team, so there is some familiarity there.

Siegenthaler is only 23 and will be a restricted free agent after the season, but New Jersey didn't trade for him to allow him to walk away...

Meanwhile, I missed this note from earlier in the week as the Devils waived/terminated winger Nikita Gusev and allowed him to search for a new team, which Gusev found in the Florida Panthers.

Gusev arrived in New Jersey with a large amount of fanfare after dominating the KHL and the Devils traded a second-round pick to Las Vegas to gain his rights with the team signing him shortly thereafter.

At times in 2019-20, Gusev looked like a player capable of spectacular things and finished with 13 goals and 31 assists in 66 games, but never seemed to connect with Lindy Ruff and his style of play and was only active for twenty games this season, finishing with two goals and three assists.

In the end, a player with Gusev's defensive deficiencies had better be able to finish around the net and he simply didn't do that enough to be worth his playing time.

Gusev may succeed in Florida, as it seemed to me to be more of a fit within the Lindy Ruff system than a lack of talent or even hustle.

New Jersey also waived Sami Vatanen today after making their trade with Washington.

Vatanen was re-signed by the Devils as a free agent, but arrived late due to Covid-19 passport problems and played in only 29 games, scoring two goals with three assists.

Devils deadline deals- Vatanen, Simmonds, Domingue move on

The New Jersey Devils were thought to have finished most of their dealings before the trade deadline but made three minor moves at the deadline day with players that will be free agents at the end of the season for the proverbial "something beats nothing" return for moving players to new locales'.

The Devils traded Wayne Simmonds to Buffalo for a fifth-round draft pick in 2021 that could become a fourth-rounder, should the Sabres rally and make the playoffs.
Simmonds scored six goals with sixteen assists for the Devils this season after signing with the team for this season but was unlikely to return to New Jersey for next year.
I get the Devils doing this one as even a fifth-rounder is something for a non-contender, but I don't understand Buffalo making this trade, who is still unlikely to make the playoffs and yet traded a draft pick for a player unlikely to re-sign.

New Jersey then sent backup goaltender Louis Domingue to Vancouver for goaltender Zane McIntyre.
Domingue played in sixteen games for the Devils after being obtained earlier this season from Tampa Bay for a seventh-round draft pick as the backup to Mackenzie Blackwood.
Domingue's record was 3-8-2 with a GAA of 4.03 and was unlikely to return next season with the Devils, but Vancouver was looking for a veteran backup after the recent injury to their starter Jacob Markstrom.
McIntyre will join AHL Binghamton and can also walk at the end of the season.
New Jersey will save a few hundred thousand for doing the Canucks a favor, but I would have hoped they might have gotten the seventh-rounder that they traded to Tampa Bay for that favor.

The biggest deal of the day was announced after the deadline had passed as the Devils traded Sami Vatanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in return for minor leaguers Janne Kuokkanen, Fredrick Claesson, and a fourth-rounder that can become a third-rounder, should Vatanen recover from his current injury to play an unnamed amount of games.
Vatanen scored five goals and eighteen assists in 47 games but missed chunks of time in each of the last two seasons and was somewhat of a disappointment after being obtained in the trade that sent fan favorite Adam Henrique to Anaheim.

The Devils don't have picks in the second or third rounds in the upcoming draft as they traded the second round to Nashville for P.K. Subban and the third to Las Vegas for Nikita Gusev, so I was hoping Vatanen could at least bring one or the other of those picks, but he'll have to get healthy to add that third-rounder.

The centerpiece of the deal is 21-year-old left-winger Janne Kuokkanen, who was the Hurricanes second-round pick from Finland in 2016.
Kuokkanen has played most of the last three years with AHL Charlotte but played eleven games with the Hurricanes in the previous two years without a point.
Kuokkanen scored twelve goals with thirty assists for the Checkers in 52 games, can play center or wing and is regarded as more of a playmaker than a scorer.
Kuokkanen has been mentioned as a player that was blocked by the Hurricanes depth rather than a fringe prospect, so perhaps the Devils did gain something out of the trade.

Defenseman Frederic Claesson has spent time in the NHL with Ottawa and the Rangers, playing 113 games over four seasons with four goals and sixteen assists during that tenure.
The 27-year-old Swede has spent the entire season with AHL Charlotte, scoring three goals with 16 assists in 47 games, but at 27 years of age, Claesson is considered a depth piece at best and is headed to New Jersey to replace Vatanen on the roster to finish the season for the Devils.

This isn't a poor return for Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils, as Fitzgerald navigates a rebuilding process while at the same time trying to stake his claim to the permanent general manager's position.
Janne Kuokkanen seems like a prospect that could help the team next season and should Sami Vatanen play enough to bump the fourth-rounder to the needed third, the trade looks even better.
The 2021 fifth-rounder for Wayne Simmonds isn't a ton, but it's something for a guy that wouldn't be around next season anyway, but I still can't figure out why New Jersey couldn't even get a seventh for Louis Domingue from a team in need as Vancouver currently is.

Still, looking at these deals in addition to the trades with the Islanders (Andy Greene) and Lightning (Blake Coleman), Fitzgerald and the Devils did pretty well on the overall, so I'm fairly pleased.
Now the Devils pretty much know what they have unless they make a move or two near draft day and the question becomes how will they use those assets to improve a disappointing team with a fan base that could be beginning to forget what winning hockey is like in New Jersey.

Devils trade for Sami Vatanen,trade Adam Henrique

Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The New Jersey Devils apparently are taking their surprisingly fast start to heart (only one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division) and they are also taking a bad performance in their last game against Florida seriously as the Devils swung a deal to gain a possible impact player at the position that they need most and even though the Devils greatest position of depth was at forward, the player going to a new team is one that the fan base won't be happy about- one that you know in particular...

The Devils acquired defenseman Sami Vatanen and a conditional future third-round pick in exchange for forward Adam Henrique, minor leaguer Joseph Blandisi, and the Devils third-rounder in the 2018 draft.
That's right Adam Henrique.
As in Rachel's Adam Henrique.

I'll get to the hockey part of the trade shortly, but Rachel doesn't know as I type this, and I know she's going to take it hard.
It's part of following sports, players are transient by nature, and players come and go, but when you give your heart to a player for the first time as Rachel did Henrique, it is a blow and it's a big one.
I remember the Toby Harrah for Buddy Bell trade and how it hit me.
I was half as old as Rachel, but the first time is the first time no matter how old you are.
It always is tough and it gets a little better the more you go through it, but the hurt from that first time never goes away...
Sometimes the best you can do is say you are sorry, give a hug, and hope the hurt goes away.
I'd hate to see her dislike Vatanen for this- he's a fine player who didn't ask to be traded for her favorite player...

As for Vatanen, the Devils are acquiring just what they needed entering the season, a young offensive-minded defenseman who can play the power play with a right-handed shot.
Vatanen recently came back from off-season shoulder surgery and in fifteen games for the Ducks has one goal and three assists.
Vatanen had three goals and twenty-one assists in 71 games last season and a career-high in goals (12) came in 2014-15.
The Ducks were looked at all during the summer as a possible trading partner with the Devils since the biggest need for New Jersey was the spot that Anaheim had in surplus.
Vatanen is easily a top-four defenseman for the Devils and arguably becomes their best defenseman upon arrival in Colorado (The Devils are in Denver for tomorrow's game).
The 26-year-old Finnish product is a clear upgrade for the team's blueliners and we'll be glad to have him, I'm sure.

As is usual in pro sports, you generally have to give quality to gain it and Adam Henrique has been a player that has been very popular in New Jersey with fans and was active in the community.
The 27-year-old will be best remembered for his goal in the playoffs vs the New York Rangers that eliminated the Rangers and sent the Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals in their last visit to the playoffs to date.
Henrique was always an effort player, but he had gotten off to a slow start this season with just four goals and ten assists and with plenty of depth in New Jersey and with Anaheim suffering from injuries to their top two centers (Ryan Getzlaff and Ryan Kesler), Henrique will have every opportunity to step right into the Ducks lineup with critical minutes.

Joseph Blandisi spent this season with Binghamton and seemed to fall between the cracks in the Devils system.
Blandisi too should have a chance to start over with a team in desperate current need at forward

In summary -I like the trade on the ice.
Sami Vatanen instantly upgrades the defense and adds some pop from the blue line that the Devils lacked and Adam Henrique was part of a strong bunch of forwards that the team hopes can be replaced.
Look for Pavel Zacha to be given the first chance to slide into Henrique's role.

Off the ice-it hurts.
Adam Henrique was very gracious to Rachel when she was able to meet him and it was Henrique who locked her in as a Devils fan.
Henrique will always be fondly remembered by Devils fans and I'm sad to see him go, despite that it might be better for his career.

I might have more on this later.
Rachel-I'm so so sorry  :(