Chicago Blackhawks: Is Olli Maatta an upgrade?
The Chicago Blackhawks have tried to completely revamp their defense over the offseason and one new addition is a big question mark.
The Chicago Blackhawks have had an interesting offseason. They didn’t draft Bowen Byram third overall in the 2019 NHL Draft and I think that will be seen as a mistake within three years. He is the only defenseman in the draft that projects to be someone’s number one someday, and that someone is the division rival Colorado Avalanche.
They have some good defensive prospects in the system like Adam Boqvist and Henri Jokiharju. Both of them are good but won’t be anyones number one defenseman. However, they did do some things to improve the blue line via trade. Acquiring a guy like Calvin de Haan was a brilliant move. They didn’t move anything really significant to get him and it will pay off.
The other guy they got was defenseman Olli Maatta from the Pittsburgh Penguins. This one costed a little more as Dominik Kahun is a good, cheap, young player that might be of some use for the Penguins. Maatta isn’t as good as de Haan but he costed a little more. That could be because the Carolina Hurricanes have an embarrassment of riches at the position and could have just felt the need to move de Haan to make room.
The question here is whether or not Olli Maatta helps upgrade this blue line from what it was last year. The Blackhawks were one of the worst defensive teams in the National Hockey League, including being dead last in the entire Western Conference. This is in a year where they were near the top of the league in goals for, it was directly the bad goals against numbers that kept them out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Olli Maatta has his problems as an NHL defenseman and he is not going to move the needle as far as whether or not his team is a Stanley Cup contender or not, but his presence will be an upgrade over last season for sure. His cap hit is a little high for what he brings, but he might be worth it if he can help them as a whole. He isn’t going to score lots of points, but what we hope he can do is help the team keep the puck out of their own net.
He is a defenseman who is a bit weak on the skating but as long as he is paired with a guy who can move that issue can be masked. He has the ability to win puck battles and make little chip out passes to make sure the puck is safe. He is also a guy who falls under the category of a guy who simply needs a change of scenery. He won the Stanley Cup twice with the Penguins and now they’re not good defensively either so coming to Chicago could recharge his batteries.
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Guys like Brandon Manning, Jan Rutta, Carl Dahlstrom, and Slater Koekkoek are all guys who Maatta would be considered an upgrade over, so even if you consider the cap number it is a good thing they have a guy like this to add to the team. Like I said before, he isn’t coming here to be their new savior. He is coming here to try and help the unit be much better as a whole and for that reason he is an upgrade.