Confirmed Trade: [LAK/CHI] Olli Maatta (18.37% retained) for Brad Morrison

[Headshot77]

I feel bad for Maatta. Had a great start to his career then fell off, likely due to health issues.

He had to have cancer treatment IIRC

 

[jetsforever]

Didn't realise Maatta was worth nothing now, maybe Jets should've tried

 

[Headshot77]

Seeing people call Maatta a "veteran presence" hurts me.

 

[King'sPawn]

Seeing people call Maatta a "veteran presence" hurts me.

On the left side, the Kings defense corps is:
Björnfot, Clague, Mikey Anderson, and Ben Hutton was the "vet" on the left.

As @bland said, he doesn't need to be a star. It's a stop gap. The Kings filled that while:
- removing a non-impact prospect
- not having to compete in free agency and forking over money and term

It's a very good deal for the Kings, considering their needs.

 

[RorschachWJK]

Maatta is one of those players who everyone was high on, came in and played pretty well initially but flamed out just as quickly, as he’s never really grown into the player a lot of people thought he would. Whether he’s permanently gun shy can also be argued but it doesn’t appear to be the case.

Honestly he’s just a player who was able to play in the NHL at a younger age without being fully developed with an all around game. He really is still the player he was at 18-19. Just like Risto in Buffalo, little has developed with his game since being drafted. As much as he was able to play at a young age in Pittsburgh, unfortunately it stunted his overall growth as a player. You don’t learn on the job at the NHL level. An indictment of Pittsburgh’s development team.

Many, including myself, thought his upside offensively would come but it just never really has.

Alot of young D, like Sanderson in Tuesday’s draft, or Seider last year, you look at their skill set and say there’s no reason they shouldn’t end up having a good deal of offensive upside. We seen Seider’s game take on that element with Grand Rapids last year, making him now look like he not only deserved to go that high but maybe have been the first D off the board. Just like Sanderson this year compared to Drysdale, Seider was much closer to to Byrum offensively than Byrum was to Seider defensively. The exact reason we may see Sanderson go ahead of Drysdale. I know I’d take him over Drysdale.

Anyway, many D are drafted higher for this reason. Their skill set says they “should” become more of an offensive weapon. as we’ve seen many young D over the years show more offense after they’re drafted than as a junior player. Like Sanderson this year or Seider last year, Maata was “that guy“ his draft year. The only question was how much he’d evolve offensively. It just never really came. Like I said above, Pittsburgh just didn’t develop him like they should’ve.

Unfortunately those days are over for him now. He is what he is at this point. He’ll never be much more than a bottom pairing guy or a low end #4. There’s an appearance of some laziness but sometimes, especially with Europeans, it’s not laziness but more of a methodical way he skates and plays.

If anyone is thinking he’s going to come in and be a 4-5 year replacement for Martinez, you’re going to be horribly disappointed.

Nothing against Morrison, but obviously 29 other teams just passed up acquiring Maatta pretty cheap.

Probably a one and done with LA and ends up in Seattle next year. The exact type who ends up not being protected but chosen in an expansion draft due to his skill set even though he doesn’t seem to use it fully.

Looks like you're totally clueless about Määttä's health problems. I'd suggest looking into the matter...if you aren't too busy writing your super-detailed analysis which is based on data that is lacking.

 

[Sniperberg]

Legend

 

[Gaud]

Why not? What’s the Maatta?

I guess he just never Maatta guy who liked him

 

[KingsCourt]

LMAO, Maata is terrible.

i don't much about Matta...but this is some great insight, thanks bud!

 

[qqaz]

So Maatta is now signed for 2 more years at a 3.33 ish cap hit for LA. I think that's a pretty good number for him and what he brings.

If he were a UFA next week, I think a few teams would offer him a contract like that. Good move for LA.

I get it for Chicago. But it's a really underwhelming way to get cap space. Retaining is never a preference.

 

[izlez]

I swear, every year for the last 5 years or so, I see a highlight and think to myself "Who was that defenseman?? That was one of the worst plays I've ever seen"

The answer to that question is always Olli Maata.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

He played pretty well last year and in the playoffs recently.
Good player and at that price LA made a good deal.

Chicago just needed to clear some cap, it happens often.

 

[The Red Line]

Kinda weird seeing a Blackhawks trade without a former Blackhawks player coming back to them.

 

[kilowatt]

I just don't understand what people are expecting from this trade. The Kings needed a warm body to play defense while the Kings' prospects learn how to be professionals. Before this trade, this was the Kings' experience on defense:

Bjornfot (3 GP) - Doughty (919 GP)
Anderson (6 GP) - Roy (95 GP)
Clague (4 GP) - Walker (109 GP)

That's a grand total of 13 games played on the left side. If Maatta really impresses, who knows, maybe he sticks around as a third-pairing guy. But a rookie on every single pairing is not the path to success for LA. We want to put these kids in a position to succeed. That likely means rotating these guys throughout the season. And Maatta is no worse than Forbort, Folin, Fantenberg, or Phaneuf, so I'm not going to stress over this. The Kings aren't going to be playoff contenders next year. This is a fine trade.

 

[Rorschach]

I just don't understand what people are expecting from this trade. The Kings needed a warm body to play defense while the Kings' prospects learn how to be professionals. Before this trade, this was the Kings' experience on defense:

Bjornfot (3 GP) - Doughty (919 GP)
Anderson (6 GP) - Roy (95 GP)
Clague (4 GP) - Walker (109 GP)

That's a grand total of 13 games played on the left side. If Maatta really impresses, who knows, maybe he sticks around as a third-pairing guy. But a rookie on every single pairing is not the path to success for LA. We want to put these kids in a position to succeed. That likely means rotating these guys throughout the season. And Maatta is no worse than Forbort, Folin, Fantenberg, or Phaneuf, so I'm not going to stress over this. The Kings aren't going to be playoff contenders next year. This is a fine trade.

The real amusement will come in about 1.5 years-ish when we flip him in his UFA year to a contender for a pick or prospect that's worth much more than Brad Morrison.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I just don't understand what people are expecting from this trade. The Kings needed a warm body to play defense while the Kings' prospects learn how to be professionals. Before this trade, this was the Kings' experience on defense:

Bjornfot (3 GP) - Doughty (919 GP)
Anderson (6 GP) - Roy (95 GP)
Clague (4 GP) - Walker (109 GP)

That's a grand total of 13 games played on the left side. If Maatta really impresses, who knows, maybe he sticks around as a third-pairing guy. But a rookie on every single pairing is not the path to success for LA. We want to put these kids in a position to succeed. That likely means rotating these guys throughout the season. And Maatta is no worse than Forbort, Folin, Fantenberg, or Phaneuf, so I'm not going to stress over this. The Kings aren't going to be playoff contenders next year. This is a fine trade.

Drew Doughty with over 4x the games of the 5 other 'regular' LA d-men combined lmfao

No wonder his back is broken

 

[kilowatt]

Drew Doughty with over 4x the games of the 5 other 'regular' LA d-men combined lmfao

No wonder his back is broken

"Worst contract in the league"

 

[Anguyen92]

"Worst contract in the league"

I got to admit. It was pretty funny when the dust settled after the trade deadline and you look at Doughty's cap vs. the next highest DMan and it was 11M to 1.5M I think. Now the difference after this trade is still huge, but not as huge as before. It's 11M to 3.3M and the guy after that is 2.65M.