Sami Vatanen

Sami Vatanen
Born	(1991-06-03) June 3, 1991 Jyväskylä, Finland
Occupation	Professional ice hockey defenceman
Years active	2007–present
Known for	Playing in the NHL and winning gold with Finland at 2022 Winter Olympics and World Championships

Sami Vatanen (born 3 June 1991) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for JYP in Finland's top-tier league, the Liiga. Selected 106th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2009 NHL entry draft, Vatanen has competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Ducks, New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, and Dallas Stars. His career started with JYP, where he contributed to winning the 2011–12 SM-liiga championship. In 2023, he achieved both the Swiss National League (NL) championship with Genève-Servette HC and the Champions Hockey League (CHL) title during the 2023–24 season.

On the international stage, Vatanen has represented Finland, securing gold medals at both the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2022 World Championships.

Playing career

After being drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in 2009, Vatanen joined reigning Finnish champions JYP for the following season. There, he set a new benchmark for rookie defencemen by accumulating the highest number of points in both regular season and playoff games within the Finnish SM-liiga.

He made his NHL debut during the lockout-shortened 2012–13 NHL season on 1 February 2013. Despite appearing in just 62 games, Vatanen earned recognition on both the AHL First All-Star Team and the All-Rookie Team.

On 22 July 2014, he secured a two-year contract with Anaheim worth $2.525 million. Throughout the 2014–15 NHL season, Vatanen notched 12 goals and 25 assists in his first complete NHL campaign. Following a career-best total of 38 points over 71 games in the 2015–16 NHL season, he agreed to a four-year contract extension with Anaheim on 18 June 2016.

Vatanen was traded to the New Jersey Devils on 30 November 2017 along with a conditional third-round draft pick, in exchange for Joseph Blandisi, Adam Henrique, and a third-round pick. He closed that season having amassed 32 points across 72 games.

On 24 February 2020, he was dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes in return for Janne Kuokkanen, Fredrik Claesson, and a conditional fourth-round pick. During that postseason, he appeared in seven games and contributed three assists.

Vatanen returned to New Jersey by signing a one-year deal worth $2 million on 7 January 2021. Later that year, on 12 April, he was claimed off waivers by the Dallas Stars.

On 26 September 2021, Vatanen inked a one-year agreement with Swiss National League club Genève-Servette HC.

International play

In 2010, Vatanen represented Finland at both junior and senior international competitions, participating in the World Junior Championships held in Saskatchewan as well as the IIHF World Championship hosted in Germany. That same year, he became the highest-drafted Finnish player ever selected in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Junior Draft when Metallurg Novokuznetsk picked him second overall.

At the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, Vatanen earned a bronze medal after Finland defeated the United States with a score of 5–0. He also played for Finland during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto and was part of Finland's gold-medal-winning squad at the 2022 Winter Olympics following their victory over Russia.

Regular season and playoffs

  │2015–16│Anaheim Ducks│NHL│71│9│29│38│20│7│1│3│4│6  |   │2016–17│Anaheim Ducks│NHL│71│3│21│24│30│12│1│5│6│4  |   │2017–18│Anaheim Ducks│NHL│15│1│3│4│8│—│—│—│—│—  |   │2017–18│New Jersey Devils│NHL│57│3│25│28│32│4│1│0│1│0  |   │2018–19│New Jersey Devils│NHL│50│4│13│17│22│—│—│—│—│—  |   │2019–20 │New Jersey Devils │NHL │47 │5 │18 │23 │22 │— │— │— │— │—   |   │2019–20 │Carolina Hurricanes │NHL │— │— │— │— │— │7 │0 │3 │3 │6   |   │2020–21 │New Jersey Devils │NHL │30 │2 │4 │6 │18 │— │— │— │— │—   |   │2020–21 │Dallas Stars │NHL │9 │0 │0 │0 │2 │— │— │— │— │—   |   │2021–22 │Genève–Servette HC │NL │38 ||9 ||30 ||39 ||12 ||2 ||1 ||0 ||1 ||0   |   │2022–23 │Genève-Servette HC │NL │13 ||1 ||13 ||14 ||6 ||17 ||7 ||6 ||13 ||0   |   │2023–24 │Genève-Servette HC │NL │48 ||9 ||29 ||38 ||10 ||2 ||0 ||0 ||0 ||0   |   │2024–25 │Genève-Servette HC │NL │42 ||3 ||16 ||19 ||4 ||— ||— ||— ||— ||—

				Regular Season						Postseason
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2007–08	JYP	FIN U18		26	7	25	32	20		1	0	0	0	0
2007–08	JYP	Jr. A		—	—	—	—	—		2	0	0	0	0
2008–09	JYP	FIN.2 U18		2	2	3	5	0		1	1	1	2	14
2008–09	JYP	Jr. A		20	3	7	10	22		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	D Team	Mestis		5	1	1	2	8		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	JYP	SM-l		55	7	23	30	44		14	3	4	7	6
2010–11	JYP	SM-l		52	11	20	31	30		3	1	1	2	0
2011–12	JYP	SM-l		49	14	28	42	40		4	2	0	2	4
2012–13	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		62	9	36	45	44		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		8	2	0	2	0		—	—	—	—	—
2013–14	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		48	6	15	21	22		5	0	1	1	0
2013–14	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		8	2	5	7	4		5	0	3	3	4
2014–15   │Anaheim Ducks   │NHL   │67   │12   │25   │37   │36   │16   │3   │8   │11   │8   |
"Liiga totals"				156	32	71	103	114		21	6	5	11	10
"NHL totals"				473	47	153	200	212		51	6	20	26	24
"NL totals"				141	22	88	110	32		21	8	6	14	2

International

Year	Team	Tournament	Placement		Games Played	Goals	Assists	Points	Penalty Minutes
2008	Finland	U17	6th place		5	2	3	5	8
2008	Finland	WJC18	6th place		6	0	3	3	4
2009	Finland	WJC18	Template:Bronze3		6	1	1	2	2
2010	Finland	WJC	Finished 5th		6	2	3	5	0
2010	Finland	WC	Ranked 6th		7	0	0	0	6
2011	Finland	WJC	Placed 6th		6	0	4	4	4
2014	Finland	OG	Template:Bronze3		6	0	5	5	0
2016	Finland	WCH	Finished in 8th place		3	0	0	0	2
2022	Finland	OG	Template:Gold1		6	0	3	3	4
2022 IIHF World Championship#2022 | Finland | IIHF World Championships | Template:Gold1 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
Junior career totals !29					5	14	19	18
Senior career totals !30					2	12	14	14

Awards and honours

Award	Season
Liiga
' Pekka Rautakallio trophy SM-liiga's top defenceman	'2010–11, 2011–12'
' Matti Keinonen trophy Best plus/minus rating	'2010–11'
' "SM-Liiga championship"	'2011–12'
'Champion of Swiss National League'	'2022–23'