Utah signs defenseman to three-year extension

Utah HC announced theyve signed pending free-agent defenseman Olli Maatta to a three-year extension.

The contract is worth $10.5M with an even $3.5M base salary and cap hit each season, PuckPedia reports.

The deal is a demonstration of Maattas re-emergence as a top-four piece on the Utah blue line.

After being underutilized and relegated to a fringe bottom-pairing role with the Red Wings in the past couple of seasons, he was traded to Utah for a third-round pick a few weeks in late October.

Utah, at the time, needed veteran insurance on defense with Sean Durzi and John Marino out long-term and relieved Detroit of his $3M cap hit in the process.

For his low acquisition cost, the Club has been rewarded.

His underlying metrics remained strong as his minutes were slashed in Detroit, signaling he should still be a more effective complementary defensive piece in heavier minutes.

Maatta has proved that suspicion right in Salt Lake, posting 2-1214 in 51 games with a plus-seven rating while averaging 20:41 per game, only the second time hes averaged north of 20 in his 12-year career.

His possession numbers a 51.4% share of shot attempts and 48.6% expected goals share at even strength are decent considering hes started over 55% of his shifts in the defensive zone, the second-highest mark of his career.

While a lefty, the 6-foot-2 Maatta can comfortably play both sides.

Hes done so for a good chunk of the season, playing top-pairing minutes to the right of Mikhail Sergachev while Durzi and Marino were out.

Since they returned, hes shifted back to his natural left side to form Utahs second pairing with the right-shot Durzi.

That pairing has controlled 58.3% of expected goals in 70 minutes of deployment together, per MoneyPuck .

Hes fit in well as a shutdown piece in Utahs possession-reliant system under head coach Andre Tourigny.

Utah ranks top five in the league at controlling shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances at even strength, but league-average goaltending on the whole from their hot ( Karel Vejmelka ) and cold ( Connor Ingram ) tandem means their team defense is only 15th in the league.

He logs heavy penalty-killing minutes, too, and doesnt grade out as the offensive liability he was at points earlier in his career.

His play as a veteran stopgap is a significant reason why Utah still has a chance at the postseason, sitting two points back of the Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

A three-year term is of value to the 30-year-old Maatta as well as the team.

He lands some stability after suiting up for five teams in the last seven years, while Utah avoids locking themselves into a deal that takes him into his mid-30s, when his play will likely decline.

Utah now has six defensemen signed to one-way deals for next season, so it stands to reason veteran pending UFA Ian Cole could be on his way out at the deadline for the right price.

They now have $25M in projected cap space for 2024-25 with only six roster spots to fill, and with Vejmelka as the only potential high-cost pending UFA, theyre in good position to make a big splash for a forward on this summers free agent market.

This article first appeared on Pro Hockey Rumors and was syndicated with permission..

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