The Carolina Hurricanes trade prospect Janne Kuokkanen, defenseman Fredrik Claesson and a second-round draft pick to the New Jersey Devils for rearguard Sami Vatanen. They then flipped a first-round pick to the New York Rangers to land defenseman Brady Skjei.

The Hurricanes get: A mobile, puck-moving defenseman in Vatanen and a big two-way rearguard in Skjei to help staunch the blow of losing the likes of Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce for the long term. The 6-3 Skjei is on pace for 31 points shouldering mainly defensive responsibilities. Vatanen is on pace for his first 40-point season of his career, though on two occasions he was on pace to reach that mark had he remained healthy.

The Devils get: A good draft pick and a pretty good prospect in Kuokkanen (prospect profile is here). The 21-year-old was drafted 43rd overall in 2016 and in three AHL seasons he has 120 points in 160 games – very good numbers for one so young.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Jake Gardiner has four power-play points in his last nine games. The fact that he has just one even-strength point in that span is concerning because he’s about to lose a lot of his PP time. He had marginal fantasy value this season, and he is in danger of becoming completely obsolete. Jaccob Slavin has also seen an uptick in PP time with Hamilton out, and he’ll lose that now. Vatanen will have a nice, and improved, supporting cast to dish to on the power play and on paper it looks like his production will see an uptick.

Skjei has averaged seven seconds of PP time per game. So that’s not going to get any worse. And he has proven to be a 30-point player without any PP time. He’ll just keep doing what he’s doing.

Over in New Jersey, Damon Severson gains the most in terms of PP time. He had been doing well in 2017-18 before the Devils ‘ruined everything’ by acquiring Vatanen and pushing Severson back down the depth chart. Severson again stepped up his production last year when Vatanen was injured. I am very bullish on Severson now after this trade. I wish I could say the same about the stumbling PK Subban. Prospect Kuokkanen is an interesting name to keep an eye on because the Devils are not flush with forward prospects. He will get an early look on the team and could surprise. Put him on your radar, albeit with lowish expectations.

Things are interesting over in New York, as Skjei was Jacob Trouba’s partner. Who gets promoted to the Trouba pairing? Tony DeAngelo or Adam Fox? Either one should flourish with the solid two-way Trouba beside him. And any added offense from those two should result in an even-strength bump in production from Trouba, too.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

• Damon Severson
• Sami Vatanen
• Janne Kuokkanen
• Tony DeAngelo
• Adam Fox
• Jacob Trouba

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

• Jake Gardiner
• Jaccob Slavin

In the forum, the Vatanen trade is discussed here. And the Skjei trade – here.