The Detroit Red Wings traded defenseman Olli Määttä to the Utah Hockey Club for a 2025 third-round pick, the team announced Wednesday night.
Määttä, a two-time Stanley Cup Champion and 2012 first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was in his third season with the Red Wings and the final year of a two-year extension he signed just before the 2023 trade deadline.
Detroit’s acquired draft pick originally belonged to the New York Rangers and figures to be a late third-rounder.
The move comes as Detroit had eight NHL defensemen, sitting two most nights to begin the season. Määttä dressed for seven of the Red Wings’ first nine games, averaging just under 16 minutes a night playing on the team’s third defense pairing.
Welcome to Utah! 👏
We’ve acquired defenseman Olli Määttä from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a third-round draft choice via the New York Rangers. pic.twitter.com/kCQye8dRNB
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) October 30, 2024
Why did Detroit trade Määttä this early in the season?
Right-hander Justin Holl — who was a scratch for much of last season — has been off to a good start and has warranted more consistent playing time among Detroit’s eight defensemen. Young lefty Albert Johansson is no longer waiver-exempt, but has only gotten into three games so far and plays a similar style of game to Määttä.
Getting down to seven defensemen will allow both to play more often. The move also frees up some cap space, which can be used either to add a player later this season or to help pay the bonuses in Patrick Kane’s contract, rather than see any overage turn into a cap penalty next season.
How his departure affects the Red Wings
For most of the past two seasons, Määttä was one of Detroit’s steadiest defensemen, playing a simple game that paired particularly well with offensively-tilted defenders such as Shayne Gostisbehere and Filip Hronek. Määttä opened this season next to a similar-style player to Gostisbehere in new signing Erik Gustafsson, and while the pair didn’t have much immediate success together, losing Määttä’s steadying presence will hurt the Detroit blue line this season.
The Red Wings will likely continue to rotate the seven remaining ‘D’ they have, with Gustafsson able to play next to the big-bodied Holl and Johansson still rotating into the mix early in his NHL career. When Johansson is in, the hope will be that he can play a similar type of game to Määttä. He skates quite well and, like Määttä, succeeds thanks to good hockey sense. But Detroit will sacrifice some size — Johansson is 6-foot compared to Maatta’s 6-foot-2.
Required reading
- Red Wings’ losing weekend comes with a silver lining: A lineup that could stick
- What I think, and what I know, about the Red Wings after 7 games
(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
