The New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks made a surprise trade on Friday when they decided to swap goaltenders, with Kaapo Kahkonen ending up in New Jersey and Vitek Vanecek ending up in San Jose. Vanecek has had an extremely disappointing season based on expectation with a 3.18 GAA and .890 save percentage despite a 17-9-3 record. Kahkonen's numbers are not much better, as he has a 3.81 GAA and .895 save percentage with a 6-20-3 record. Kahkonen to NJD In our simulation the trade went through when the Devils proposed the deal, but denied when San Jose made the offer. The game obviously values Vanecek more than the Devils did in real life. It also likely did not take into context the difference in team quality between New Jersey and San Jose and solely focused on overalls. The Devils clearly wanted to get out of Vanecek's contract, which pays him $3.4-million a season through 2024-25, while Kahkonen is a free agent at the end of this season. The Sharks are banking on Vanecek having a bounce-back next year on a reasonable salary for a rebuilding team.
