Chicago Blackhawks: Olli Maatta trade might work out

The Chicago Blackhawks made a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins to acquire some help on the blue line, but will it work out?

The Chicago Blackhawks made a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. They traded Dominik Kahun to Pittsburgh along with a fifth round pick for defenseman Olli Maatta. The trade happened on Saturday night and sent the hockey world into a debate.

Maatta has a not so great reputation with Pittsburgh fans for his play in his own end. That was on a Pittsburgh team that won two Stanley Cups with him on the roster and weren’t that great defensively anyway. They won with him being one of the better defenseman so if he came to Chicago who really needs help on the blue line in every way possible.

They gave up a lot of goals in 2018-19 so any new look might be a good look. His offense isn’t really anything that jumps off the page at you as he only had one goal and 13 assists for 14 points so Chicago clearly isn’t going to be looking at him for a puck moving defenseman.

This is also likely a cap dump for the Penguins who are running into a bit of trouble in that department. He has a 4.083 million cap hit and is signed through the 2021-23 season. He will prove to be worth it if he helps the Blackhawks goal prevention numbers. If not, well this trade will be frowned upon years down the line.

Kahun was a good player for the Blackhawks as a bottom six forward. He had 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points in 82 games. Those are good numbers for the rookie that is now going to a Penguins team who desperately needs help in their bottom six. They are looking to make one more Cup run in the careers of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This is step one in them trying to regroup for next year.

So the jury is still out on this trade. It will either look good for the Penguins or be a fair trade for both teams. Maatta could be destined to play with his countryman Henri Jokiharju  and help him develop as well. Either way, I wouldn’t expect the Blackhawks to be done after this move. There is still more to come.