Olli Määttä is out and Dominik Kuhan is in.
Yesterday, our Pittsburgh Penguins traded 24 year-old Finnish Defenseman Olli Määttä to the Chicago Blackhawks for 23 year-old (soon to be 24 next month) Forward Dominik Kuhan and Chicago’s 5th round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft next weekend.
I don’t think any Penguins fan is surprised by the trade. Määttä fell into disfavor with Coach Mike Sullivan and now has joined a growing list of players the Coach has run out of town. The only thing that has kept Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel from being sacrificed on that altar are their respective No Movement Clause (NMC) and Limited No Trade Clause (L-NTC) that they both have.
Määttä was benched after the first loss to the New York Islanders during Post-Season. Interestingly enough, he wasn’t the Defenseman who tried splitting 3 Islander Defensemen in Over-Time (OT) during a line change, setting up the Islanders with the winning goal, and putting the Black-and-Gold in a hole at the start of the playoffs. Nor was Määttä the Defenseman who was on the ice for more than half of the goals the Washington Capitals scored against our Penguins to oust our sphenisciform seabirds from the 2019 playoffs. If you remember, the Defenseman of whom I speak was on the ice for several goals against scored within 6s of the start of games and periods, during that fateful series . Yet Määttä is the Defenseman Sullivan turned his vitriol upon [while the Defenseman who did keep making mistakes average over 27 minutes of ice-time (3rd highest average of his career)] during our abbreviated play-off appearance.
During his tenure with our favorite flightless fowl Määttä scored 25 goals in 362 games, picked up 82 assists, blocked 565 shots and dished out 440 hits. He also was a +61 with an even strength CORSI of 51%. Määttä’s numbers average out to 5 goals, 18 assists, 100 hits, and 128 blocked shots in an 82 game season. Most observers will tell you he has a slow first step but he usually made up for it with smart plays. He was 1 of 2 first round Draft picks in the 2012 Entry Draft (Derrick Pouliot was the other).
Dominik Kahun is a 5’-11” 175lb left-handed forward. HockeyReference.com lists Kahun as a Center while Elite Prospects.com and Jim Rutherford suggest that he can play all forward positions. He was born in Plazan, Czech Republic but has dual citizenship; Czech Republic and Germany. He played for Germany in this past years IIHF Tournament.
The scouting reports I have read on Kahun purport a tremendous skating ability, quick hands, and good stick handling skills. He is also said to have poise with the puck and good vision on the ice. His limitations appear to be his size and strength. Apparently he is a perfect fit for the Penguins, small and weak on the puck but a great play-maker.
With so many play-makers, wouldn’t it be nice if there were some shooters too?
In his first season in the NHL last year with Chicago, Kuhan scored 13 goals and added 24 assists over 82 games. During the IIHF Tournament he had 1 goal and 4 assists in 8 games. Unlike another Dominik on our tuxedo attired aquatic avians he had his best games against countries that actually put players in to the NHL. Kuhan scored his goal against Finland and had 2 assists against Slovakia — while “the other Dominik” only had 1 assist in 4 games against countries whose rosters are populated by NHL players (Russia, Sweden, and Canada).
I must confess I am interested in seeing Kahun play, so I say Welcome Dominik Kuhan to the Black and Gold!
Do I think that Kuhan will be an improvement to the team? Perhaps. I do believe if Sullivan had done his job as coach and had put the best players on the ice our Penguins would have fared far better than they did. However, Sullivan’s insistence on playing the other Dominik (over other players that should have been given a shot) certainly hurt the team. So, if Kuhan plays in Pittsburgh [not Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) like Teddy Bleuger, Adam Johnson and Anthony Angello] and Rutherford ships Dominik Simon out of town so that Sullivan can’t keep playing Simon over more deserving players – then, Yes, this will be a win trade or the Penguins at least offensively speaking.
However, the trade does nothing to improve the Penguins defense. Määttä was certainly not the worst Defenseman on the team last year. There still are more Defensemen on the Penguins’ roster who were far worse defensively, last year.
To Olli Määttä, I wish him all the best on a new lease on his career. His new environment will certainly be better than the one he is leaving behind him.
Hi TOR!
Yep, summer is around the corner, although here in Eastern Canada, we haven’t got warm temperature yet!
Well, this trade was in the air for a long time and I wasn’t surprised when it went public. But I am a wee bit disappointed with what the team got in return. I don’t know much about Dominik Kahun but some players in WBS may have a similar profile (Blueger, Angello, Johnson, Haggerty). But as you rightfully mentioned, Sully has a particular propensity for benching players who don’t buy the system.
We’ll see what Kahun is able to accomplish next season. I don’t know about you, TOR, but I have a sinking feeling that GMJR is going to maintain the status quo. It seems difficult to trade Kessel, Jack Johnson is apparently not going anywhere, there are 3 RFAs and 3 UFAs but I wonder if these players have some value and GMJR does not have much room to manoeuvre ($5,375,000 projected cap space).
We’ll see how the draft goes but I don’t have great expectations. TOR, have a nice summer and see you next season!
Hi Jorenz,
Here in Pittsburgh we have gotten warm Temperatures but with it all we ever seem to get is rain. I thought rain was London, England’s thing.
You bring up a good point about WBS players, Blueger, Johnson, and Angello. Blueger and Johnson definitely should have had ample opportunity last year to get TOI in Pgh and in Johnson’s case he definitely has a similar profile. He can flat out fly and has excellent hinds in traffic. The problem is these guys are too big and strong on the puck for Sullivan.
At every opportunity, unless the big guy is light years better than the little guy, Sullivan plays the little guy. And even then, he complains about the bigger guy and gets him traded. I have seen several mock drafts where pundits suggest that the Penguins draft Lavoie and Seider. I would dearly love for the Penguins to get either or both of these guys, but you know they won’t. Both are too big, Sullie will never let them play here. Just like the rumors that the Penguins will grab Simmons in the FA market. If GMJR does sign he will sit just like Reaves did. It would be a wasteful signing and Simmons would be very redundant. Simmons best role is on the PP in front of the net and that job is Hornqvist’s and Hornqvist has a NTC, so like Malkin he isn’t going anywhere unless he wants to go.
My biggest fear is that GMJR will trade our 1 rnd pick. As you mention, the Pens only have about $6 million in cap space and only have 10 Forwards, 6 Defenseman, and 3 Goalies signed for next year, so even a minimal contract and subs leaves them with only a little over $4 million to spend on a player in return. If the team does fill out their max roster they will have considerably less $$$ for that player and a $3-4 million player is certainly not worth giving up a 1 rnd pick and I would think that Lavoie or Seider would contribute more to the team next year then any ridiculous ~$3-4 mil player.
Under a better coach, I wouldn’t be all that upset at near Status Quo (there still is a Forward and 1-2 Defensemen that I would dump for nothing more than a bag if pucks and some broken hockey sticks). What the team needs is a new Coach. Nearly the whole team quit on him in the playoffs last year. That is not the players, that is the Coach!
See you in Sept. Have a great summer!