Olli Määttä has become the top defender of his team after the coronation investigation that hit Christmas. The personal lift comes in an important seam for Määtä, who is playing for the last year of his contract.
Representing the Los Angeles Kings Olli Määttä, 27, belongs to the category of Finnish NHL players that are rarely found in the titles. The situation is even a little special, as at the same time the JYP-backed defender is one of the most successful players in domestic NHL history.
Määttä is one of only four Finns who have raised the Stanley Cup twice.
Määttä, who profiles himself as a slightly angular basic defender, is not distinguished by ice-melting skating or spectacular puck-playing solutions, but rather by stiff basic defense and intense fighting play. When Määttä rarely appears in the point statistics, the attention tends to be limited.
Attention has also received little attention in recent years due to a slight downturn in the career.
However, Määttä has returned strongly to the NHL map.
Määttää is still not at the top of the scoring statistics, but a quick glance at the Finnish defenders’ power statistics readings picks up a surprising attention: Olli Määtä has the best plus-minus quotation in the domestic packages: +14. Attackers included and Määttä can be found in the top five.
Määttä received a corona at Christmas, but after returning to the trough after the Epiphany, he has been one of his team’s best in the defensive end. In fact, after Määtä’s return to the power statistics, the +14 collected is enough for the 18th place in the entire NHL power statistics. Mikko Rantanen and Anton Lundell.
After a harder start to the season, the game goes great with the spring ear.
– I really enjoy playing now. When I got back into lineup in December, the game started going. It has then nurtured self-confidence and self-confidence not to think too much. You usually enjoy playing when you don’t think about it too much, Määttä tells Sport.
Määttä has already formed a very well-functioning pair of defenders together a year younger than himself Matt Royn with. Sure, the team playing in front has also operated well, but with this pair on the ice, Kings have defended very well.
With five to five, the duo have won their game in the first half of 2022 with goals from 13 to 9, and the team has recorded the finish places in their names, with the Finnish-American package pair on the ice at over 60%, and from the first sector almost 57%. Especially for Määttä, who is expected to have good protection for his own goal, the numbers are tough.
– Roy is a really good player and it’s easy to play with him. We think about the game pretty much the same way and everything is clear. We haven’t spun terribly on our own, but we’ve gotten the game very open. If we’ve been on our own, it’s clear. The points haven’t been terribly good for me, but it feels like things are working better even in the attack area, Määttä says.
The buoy comes in a seam that is important for Määta’s NHL career. Määtt is known in the NHL world as a really tough class professional who doesn’t leave a stone unturned in training or preparation. In addition, Määttä has a winning aura through the Pittsburgh years – two consecutive Stanley Cups won’t be won by chance.
It’s hardly a coincidence that after Pittsburgh, Määttä has just been hired in Chicago and Los Angeles. It is in these clubs that you know exactly what and what types of players it takes to succeed. As of 2009, the aforementioned clubs have won a total of as many as eight Stanley Cups.
Still, the career of a Jyväskylä resident has been in a slight slippery slope since the Pittsburgh years. Although Määtt was booked for the NHL as a versatile basic defender, his identity has changed a lot over the years. Overpowering responsibilities are now underpowering responsibilities and when there are no frequent markings on the attacking head, the profile is more defensive and successes are measured by protecting your own goal.
Määtä has also had his own difficulties in Los Angeles for two seasons and at times he has even dropped out of the playing line-up.
Now the game is on. The turn could not have come to a better seam, as the player’s contract will be interrupted next summer.
If Määtän’s tendon lasts through spring, a new NHL deal is likely to be found painlessly.
– Before through the agreement was more in mind and it can be quite a good thing. It puts you to do the job and focus on it properly. However, when the games started, I pushed this topic aside. I haven’t thought or talked about it terribly. When you do things well, even such things end well, Määttä makes sense.
On the other hand, Määttä also shakes clichés about the importance of the motivation that the contract period brings to summer training.
– Not one summer will make a terrible difference. I see that doing more on a daily basis in the long run is more crucial. These things are behind years of work. I know others are doing a damn job too, and I don’t want to be left behind. The work always gives back at some point what you put into it. I’ve always believed in that.
Last chance
If Määttä has gotten a boost in his career, the same can be said for the Los Angeles Kings as a team. Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, but has not won a single series in the playoffs since. In the previous seven seasons, it has only reached the playoffs twice.
The third time is near.
An experienced core team Anze Kopitarin, Drew Doughtyn and Jonathan Quickin led to pull his last rodeo in the NHL and it shows up. Kings is a cohesive and committed team that knows there is probably one last chance to succeed in the playoffs.
This line was also represented by the veteran acquisitions of the club management in the summer: Philip Danault, Viktor Arvidsson and Alexander Edler are all veterans who played in the Stanley Cup finals. On the other hand, in the background, many young people bring much-needed youthful enthusiasm and balance to the whole.
After the roaring corona, Kings have won 16 of their 24 matches, earning the fourth most points in the entire NHL.
– We have a better team than last year. Although last season went under the bench, the daily level of demands here has been high all along. I give it a lot of weight. These are longer processes than a week or a month when you want to succeed, Määttä says.
– Everyone realizes that this team doesn’t have much time left. Everyone with this wants to succeed here and now. Every game means to this team. We want to win from game to game. Winning is damn nice, but losing even more hurts. We don’t want to lose to anyone anymore, and it’s no longer “just ok” to lose to a good gang.
And as you might guess, hunger has increased while the team is eating.
– Still, we realize how hard the games are going to be in the final stages and the goal is still in the playoffs. It’s a cliché, but here’s a forced one to just go from game to game one at a time.