Showing posts with label Olli Maatta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olli Maatta. Show all posts

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Capitals' Brooks Orpik suspended three games for hit on Olli Maatta

"The Neutral Zone" Staff Report
Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik has been suspended for three games for his hit on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Olli Maatta in Game 2 of the two teams' second-round playoff series on Saturday.

Orpik had a hearing Sunday with the NHL’s department of player safety about the incident.


During the game, Opik was given a minor penalty for interference on the play 4:13 into the first period

Capitals' Orpik to have Player Safety hearing

Statement from the NHL.

Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Sunday for interference on Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta.

The incident occurred 4:13 into the first period of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Verizon Center on Saturday when Orpik appeared to make contact with Maatta's head. Maatta was helped off the ice and did not return.

Orpik received a two-minute minor penalty for interference.

The Penguins won 2-1 to even the best-of-7 series 1-1. Game 3 is at Consol Energy Center on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

The following grounds are being considered for supplemental discipline: interference. However, the Department of Player Safety retains the right to make adjustments to the infraction upon review.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Penguins lose three players for next two games; Fleury making progress

"The Neutral Zone" Staff Report

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced on Thursday that players Olli Maatta, Bryan Rust, and Evgeni Malkin will miss the next two games with injuries.

As a corresponding move, the Penguins have recalled forward Tom Destino from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.

Fleury making progress: Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan on Thursday said that the team's starting goaltender Marc Andre Fleury is making progress from his injury.

"He is making significant progress," Sullivan said. "He is an important part of this team."

Friday, February 26, 2016

Olli Maatta Signs Six-Year Contract Extension with Penguins

Statement from the Penguins website.

Olli Maatta
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed defenseman Olli Maatta to a six-year contract extension, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

The deal begins with the 2016-17 season and runs through the 2021-22 campaign, and has an average annual value of $4.083 million.

Maatta, 21, has six goals, 10 assists, 16 points and a plus-18 in 53 games. His plus-18 is third-highest among all NHL blueliners.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound Maatta has been paired with Kris Letang for a majority of the season on the Penguins’ top defensive pairing. Since the two were united on Nov. 13, Maatta’s steady presence has allowed Letang to post the third-highest point total among all NHL defensemen.

A native of Jyvaskyla, Finland, Maatta broke into the NHL as a 19 year old in 2013-14, tallying nine goals, 20 assists and 29 points with a plus-eight in 78 games. Those totals earned Maatta the club’s rookie of the year award, as his nine goals were the second-highest total of any Penguins’ rookie defenseman (Zarley Zalapski; 12; 1988-89) in club history.

In February of 2013, Maatta played a starring role for Finland at the 2014 Olympics, tying for second on his team with three goals in six games as the Finns emerged with a bronze medal.

Maatta’s second season in ’14-15 was limited to just 20 games due to a cancerous tumor that was surgically removed, and a shoulder injury. Before he was sidelined, Maatta was playing arguably the best hockey of any Penguins’ defenseman that year, tallying nine points (1G-8A) as Pittsburgh began the season as one of the league’s top teams.

The Penguins chose Maatta in the first round (22nd overall) of the talent-filled 2012 NHL Draft held at CONSOL Energy Center. Of the 30 players chosen in the first round, 28 have already played at least one NHL game, including 12 of the 13 defensemen picked, with two of those defenders the Penguins’ Maatta and Derrick Pouliot (8th overall).

Maatta was the 10th blueliner selected in 2012, and as of Feb. 26 he ranks fifth in games played (151) and fourth in points with 54 (16G-38A) among the defenders chosen that year.

During his lone playoff run with the Penguins in ’13-14, Maatta contributed four assists and was plus-2 in 13 contests.

As a junior player with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights, Maatta helped his squad capture back-to-back OHL titles in ’12-13 and ’11-12. He earned OHL All-Rookie honors in ’11-12 and was one of the Knights’ alternate captains his second year.