Posted on

Janne Kuokkanen Loaned Out to Finnish Club

Janne Kuokkanen, the forward prospect the Devils acquired in the Sami Vatanen deal from the Carolina Hurricanes will be loaned out to Oulun Karpat Oy of Liiga in Finland. Liiga is Finland’s top hockey league and Kuokkanen is from Oulu, the city that Karpat is located in.

Kuokkanen played one game for the Devils this past season following the trade from Carolina. He played the bulk of the 2019-20 season in the American Hockey League, for the Charlotte Checkers (former AHL affiliate of Carolina – now with the Florida Panthers) and the Binghamton Devils.

He totaled 48 points in 56 American League games this past season according to Amanda Stein on the “Inside the Devils Blog” where the news was reported.

Six of those 48 AHL points were with Binghamton (three goals and three assists) while 42 points came in his 52 games with Charlotte. He appeared in only four games for Binghamton.

Stein reports that “Kuokkanen will be immediately able to play for Karpat while waiting for the start of the 2020-21 NHL Training Camp, at which point he will be able to return to New Jersey.”

Posted on

Domingue to Vancouver; Vatanen headed to Carolina

The Devils made two late swaps before the 3 PM NHL trade deadline.

The team sent goaltender Louis Domingue to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for goalie Zane McIntyre.

McIntyre is a 27-year-old, 6-foot, 2-inch 205 pounder with a 3.16 goals against average with the Utica Comets – the Canucks’ AHL affiliate. He is 11-10-2 in the American League right now. He will report to Binghamton as per the press release put out by the Devils.

McIntyre does have NHL experience, appearing in eight games with the Bruins in 2016-17.

Domingue’s tenure between the pipes for the Devils was not stellar. He finished with a 3-8-2 record appearing in 16 games since being acquired from the Lightning earlier in the season. He finished with an .882 save percentage and a 3.79 goals against average with the Devils.

In a separate deal, the Devils sent defenseman Sami Vatanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Fredrick Claesson, prospect Janne Kuokkanen and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The Devils will also retain 50-percent of Vatanen’s salary.

The star of this trade is Kuokkanen, a 21-year-old forward who was picked 43rd overall in the 2016 NHL Draft (second-round). The 6-foot, 1-inch, 195-pound player is currently in the AHL where he was playing for the Charlotte Checkers. There he has 12 goals, 30 assists for 42 points over 52 games.

According to the Devils’ press release, he played in seven games at the NHL level for Carolina in 2018-19 and has appeared in eleven NHL games total.

He is a native of Oulunsalo, Finland and played in Finland for Karpat. He also played a year in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights. He won gold at the 2016 World Junior under-18 tournament and has represented Finland in the 2017 and 2018 World Junior Championships.

Claesson is a 27-year-old defenseman and currently has three goals, 16 assists for a total of 19 points for AHL Charlotte. He has played in 150 NHL regular season games for the Senators and Rangers. His NHL totals read six goals and 20 assists for 26 points.

Vatanen was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019-20 season. The conditions on the fourth-round pick have been reported by Bob McKenzie of TSN on Twitter as being based on how much Vatanen plays and if he stays healthy (he is currently on injured reserve). The Devils did not mention the condition in their press release.