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With next to nothing happening in the hockey world now, I've decided to take the plunge and write daily profiles for members of the New Jersey Devils.
I'll be commenting on the year each player just had as well as their projected role and expectations for 2019-20.
Today we're going with Sami Vatanen.
Counting stats: 50 games played, 17 points (four goals, 13 assists), 21:44 average time on ice
5v5 underlyings: .79 points/60, +1.03 CF% Rel, -5.20 GF% Rel, -1.12 xGF% Rel, 97.5 PDO
2018-19 review: Sami Vatanen was a disappointment last season. It wasn't that he was bad, per se. He just wasn't good. At anything, really. Vatanen was OK breaking the puck out but far from a zone exit machine. He wasn't the most efficient 5v5 producer, and his power play production dipped significantly. Vatanen averaged just 2.65 points/60 on the man advantage. That's the lowest output of his career and well below the 4.65 points/60 he recorded with the Devils in 2017-18. Vatanen was mostly fine as an in-zone defender but the overall picture was far from perfect. In particular, his habit of almost recklessly pinching to hold the opposing line proved costly a little too often. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he was a disaster or that he didn't contribute in any area. He just didn't *excel* in any, and you'd like to see that from someone logging almost 22 minutes per game.
Fun fact(s): Vatanen was more trigger happy than ever before in 2018-19, setting career highs with 10.96 attempts and 5.41 shots on goal per 60 minutes of 5v5 play.
2019-20 outlook: His season depends almost entirely on what John Hynes elects to do with the left side of the defense. If he plays Will Butcher in the top-4, as he should, *and* keeps everyone on their current sides, Vatanen projects to be RD3 at even-strength. He's not playing ahead of P.K. Subban, and he shouldn't play ahead of Damon Severson. It obviously wouldn't be a situation where the 3rd pairing barely sees the ice but Vatanen relies more on minutes than efficiency to produce. If he's on the 3rd pairing, and only seeing spot duty on PP2 (I imagine Subban will QB PP1, and Butcher will QB PP2), he could be heading for a fairly underwhelming platform year. On the flip side, Vatanen having the best statistical season of his career is a possibility *if* he ends up opposite side Subban on P1 – especially with the sudden abundance of quality offensive players up front. I really believe the role he plays will determine the kind of season he has (and what the perception of him is heading into free agency). Perhaps more than anyone on the team.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and hockey-reference.com
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