The first major change has been made for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Finnish defenseman Olli Maatta was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday in exchange for forward Dominik Kahun and a 5th round pick.
Kahun is heading into his second NHL season. Last year he scored 13 goals leading to 37 points on the year. Kahun is capable of playing almost anywhere on the forward side including powerplay and penalty kill. Pens GM Jim Rutherford spoke of Kahun saying, “He is a speedy, versatile player capable of playing all three forward positions.”
With that the Penguins say goodbye to one of their longest projects on the roster. Maatta was a highly touted prospect with massive potential when the penguins drafted him in the first round of the 2012 NHL entry draft. His rookie year showed us what the scouts were talking about as he became a quick fixture in the Penguins D Corps, and finished 5th in Calder Trophy voting.
After that season, there wasn’t much improvement as Maatta’s progress grew stagnant. He became known for his lack of speed and his tendency to give up easy goals due to turnovers in his own end. Nonetheless he was granted a 6 year contract worth just over $4M per season in February of 2016. The Blackhawks will take on the final three years of that contract.
Heading into his 7th NHL season Maatta has 25 career goals and 107 career points. He played an integral role in helping the Penguins to back to back Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 and 2017.
Maatta was able to find his game on occasion, showing spurts of what he could be, but inconsistency was ever present for the 24-year-old Finn. Not only that, but injuries and health problems caused him to miss time in 5 of his first 6 seasons, making it harder for him to find a rhythm to his game.
Maatta’s slow and sometimes stagnant progress grew too much for Head Coach Mike Sullivan, who benched Maatta for the final three games of the Penguins first round series against the New York Islanders. It was those games as a healthy scratch, plus GMJR’s comments about impending change that signaled the end of Maatta’s time as a Penguin. Maatta never found that potential that was expected of him from the Pittsburgh front office and fan base, but he will always be remembered as the co-MVP of the 2017 Stanley Cup Parade along with fellow defenseman Justin Schultz.
This move creates much more cap space for the Penguins who now have over $6.3M in space. While some of that will be reserved for re-signing players like Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Bleuger, and Marcus Petterson there should be more moves coming in the near future for the Penguins. While it seems (as of now) that Phil Kessel will remain on the team, Rutherford is looking to move other names off the Penguins current roster.
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