The NHL Trade Deadline was on Monday and it was a very busy day for the New Jersey Devils organization. They made multiple moves that has led to a couple new faces joining the Binghamton Devils for their playoff push. 

The Devils deadline moves impacting Binghamton include trading away defenseman Sami Vatanen to Carolina for Forward Janne Kuokkanen, defenseman Fredrick Claesson and a 4th round pick. Kuokkanen will be playing in Binghamton. We also had some Goaltender action as the Devils traded Louis Domingue who bounced between Bingo and Jersey, to Vancouver for Goalie Zane McIntrye. McIntyre will join Gilles Senn in Binghamton's goalie rotation. Binghamton Head Coach Mark Dennehy says both of these guys are players that can help them for the stretch run.

"You look at their track records and they're two pretty talented players," says Dennehy. "We're trying to get better with the big club and they also understand we're in a playoff push here. They've done a couple things to help us as well. It makes us more competitive in the locker room, makes us deeper."

Kuokkanen has been extremely productive this season in the AHL leading the Charlotte Checkers with 42 points tallying 12 goals and 30 assists. That point total is also higher than anybody else on the Binghamton Devils. The 21 year-old was also apart of the Checkers team that won a Calder Cup last season. He says from his time playing against Binghamton this season he knows that it's a team ready for the playoff push ahead.

 

"We were here last week and I think to play against this team is really hard," says Kuokkanen. "This team has been really good since Christmas so it's really fun to be here and to try and help them get into the playoffs."

When asked about the goalie playing time share between Senn and McIntyre, Dennehy says they have two good goaltenders and that McIntyre is going to get a good look. In 24 games in Utica this season McIntyre has logged a 3.16 goals against average and a .898 save percentage. Expect a pretty even split for playing time like we've been seeing pretty much all season with whichever goalies have been in Binghamton.

The BDevs are in action again at home this weekend as they host Hartford on Friday and the Marlies on Saturday.