Playoff benching teaches Maatta lessons
like himself. And relax.
Maatta is hoping to bottle that approach, to maybe let a few more things go, and to bounce back from what he openly said “may have been the worst season of my career.”
“I wasn’t playing good at all the whole season,” Maatta continued. “I don’t think I felt good at any point until the end of the season. The last eight or nine games, when I got back in the lineup, I felt way different. I didn’t worry as much. I didn’t overthink things. I just went and played.”
Maatta broke into the NHL in 2013-14 with nine goals and 29 points in 78 games. Shoulder issues, cancer and the mumps sank his sophomore season. Maatta was a plus-27 during the regular season in 201516 — second on the team behind Chris Kunitz — but he didn’t feel such a strong number was representative of his play.
The footspeed lagged, and Maatta felt his decisionmaking was slow.
“When you overthink things, nothing comes naturally,” he said. “If you hesitate … it’s so fast out there. Even half a second, it’s going to cost you a lot. When you do that, it’s not good. Letting the game come naturally, I think that’s the biggest lesson I learned.”
Can you blame Maatta, 22, for growing impatient? He signed a six-year contract extension Feb. 26 with an average annual value of $4,083,000. You couldn’t blame the kid for wanting to live up to such a lofty deal, even if Maatta insisted Monday that he didn’t think any different about himself after the new pact.
Maatta took off six weeks before resuming skating in August. It was one of the few healthy summers he has had in his career.
Maatta’s return gives the Penguins, who are missing all four of their centers, their top four defensemen in uniform, and it’s worth watching who plays with whom as preseason games start Tuesday.
With the way the Penguins’ top-four defensemen slot — Brian Dumoulin is a left-hander and Trevor Daley is most comfortable on his off side, the right — that means Maatta again could play with Kris Letang.
That pairing was what the Penguins hoped for when Paul Martin, Letang’s longtime partner, left via free agency in the summer of 2015. Maatta and Letang played together some, but the pairing never was exactly perfect.
And, in the playoffs, Maatta became a liability at times.
While acknowledging the Penguins’ deep group of defensemen, Maatta made it no secret that he’d like to make more of an impact.
“I want to play big minutes,” Maatta said. “I want to be a factor. I want to be a big part of this team.”
Maatta’s traditional numbers were OK in the playoffs. No goals, seven assists and a plus-five while playing 17:44 a night — this after recording 19 points in 67 regular-season games and averaging 19:58. But his advanced numbers told an uglier story.
Only one Penguins defenseman — Daley at 34.72 — had a worse Shots Against Per 60 Minutes (SA60) than Maatta’s 28.83. When Maatta was on the ice in five-on-five situations, the Penguins ceded an average of 8.09 Scoring Chances Against Per 60 minutes (SCA60). No defenseman on the team fared worse.
Coach Mike Sullivan pointed to Maatta’s ice time and how he was deployed to describe what the coaching staff thinks of him. He also could have said simply that the Penguins love Maatta. And how could you not? He has every conceivable physical tool, he’s eminently likable, and he’s whip smart. Maybe too smart.
Sullivan thinks Maatta can be even better than what he has shown.
“We believe Olli has a great opportunity for his game to go to another level as well,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to work with him in a lot of areas this year.”
The primary one will be Maatta’s footspeed, a must for any player in Sullivan’s system. Playing at the World Cup of Hockey, which he did for Finland, also helped Maatta play meaningful minutes while learning how to let some things go.
“It’s just a mindset,” Maatta said. “Whatever happens, happens. Don’t worry about it. Just play your game. You’ve done it before. You know how to do it. Go out there and react. It’s weird to think about it that way, but that’s what it is.”