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Photo of Sami Vatanen

Sami Vatanen

#45 · Defence · Dallas Stars

Born Jun 3, 1991 in Jyväskylä, FIN · 5'10", 185 lb · Shoots right · Drafted 106th overall in 2009 by ANA (round 4)

Compare with a similar player

The defencemen closest to him in points in 2012-13. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Brett Bellemore CAR · 2 P in 8 GP Jarred Tinordi MTL · 2 P in 8 GP Brandon Manning PHI · 2 P in 6 GP Nathan Beaulieu MTL · 2 P in 6 GP Yannick Weber MTL · 2 P in 6 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

01020302012-13: 2 points212-132013-14: 21 points2113-142014-15: 37 points3714-152015-16: 38 points3815-162016-17: 24 points2416-172017-18: 32 points3217-182018-19: 17 points1718-192019-20: 23 points2319-202020-21: 6 points620-21

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2012-13 ANA 8 2 0 2 3 0 6 2 0.25
2013-14 ANA 48 6 15 21 9 22 73 66 0.44 $785K
2014-15 ANA 67 12 25 37 5 36 122 75 0.55 $1.262M
2015-16 ANA 71 9 29 38 8 20 140 85 0.54 $1.262M
2016-17 ANA 71 3 21 24 3 30 117 75 0.34 $4.875M
2017-18 ANA 15 1 3 4 -6 8 22 24 0.27 $4.875M
2017-18 NJD 57 3 25 28 -1 32 123 68 0.49
2018-19 NJD 50 4 13 17 -17 22 107 68 0.34 $4.875M
2019-20 NJD 47 5 18 23 -12 22 95 50 0.49 $4.875M
2020-21 NJD 30 2 4 6 2 18 41 21 0.20 $2M
2020-21 DAL 9 0 0 0 1 2 14 6 0.00
9 seasons Career 473 47 153 200 -5 212 860 540 0.42

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
2013-14 ANA 5 0 1 1 -2 0 10 10 0.20
2014-15 ANA 16 3 8 11 5 8 35 19 0.69
2015-16 ANA 7 1 3 4 4 6 12 9 0.57
2016-17 ANA 12 1 5 6 -5 4 22 22 0.50
2017-18 NJD 4 1 0 1 -1 0 9 7 0.25
2019-20 CAR 7 0 3 3 -1 6 10 3 0.43
6 seasons Playoffs 51 6 20 26 0 24 98 70 0.51

2012-13 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
8 2 0 2 3 0 6 2 0.25 33.3 15:49

Contract

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
2020-21 to 2020-21 $2M
2018-19 to 2019-20 $4.875M
2016-17 to 2017-18 $4.875M
2014-15 to 2015-16 $1.262M
2013-14 to 2013-14 $785K

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2012-13 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2012-13 analytics

Rating

+0.3Goals above replacementsix goals are worth about one win
+0.1Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-0.1Goals above averagethe five parts below added up
Even-strength offence-0.2Even-strength defence+0.1Power play0.0Penalty kill0.0Penalties+0.0

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

-505102012-132014-152016-172018-192020-21Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

48.7Corsi for %91 attempts for, 96 against
-2.1CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
49.2Expected goals for %3.5 expected for, 3.7 against
-3.7xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
52.2Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
100.0Goals for %4 for, 0 against
108.2PDO8.2% shooting + 100.0% saves
7Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Defence pairGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Bryan Allen · Sami Vatanen671:1748.447.12-0
Sheldon Souray · Sami Vatanen112:4334.541.30-0
Luca Sbisa · Sami Vatanen210:5665.060.31-0
Sami Vatanen · Cam Fowler21:46100.0100.01-0

The pairs he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's pairs that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

2Goalsnot counting empty-netters
0.3Expected goalsfrom 7 unblocked attempts
+1.7Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.13 expected goals per 60 minutes30th
Shot quality 4.0% chance per attempt85th
Finishing +1.7 goals above expected84thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of defencemen he is ahead of, among the 210 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.511.52Goals 2Expected 0.3

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Apr 25, 2013 @ VAN W 3-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 16:35
Apr 22, 2013 @ EDM W 3-0 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 15:48
Apr 21, 2013 @ EDM W 3-1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 15:25
Apr 19, 2013 @ CGY L 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14:35
Apr 17, 2013 vs CBJ L 2-3 (OT) 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 18:12
Feb 6, 2013 @ COL W 3-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17:21
Feb 4, 2013 vs SJS W 2-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14:45
Feb 1, 2013 vs MIN W 3-1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 13:52