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How does Olli Maatta's injury impact the Penguins at the trade deadline? |
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The Pittsburgh Penguins were never going to have a long time to celebrate Sidney Crosby's 1,000th NHL point and their victory over the Jets. They have a divisional game against the Blue Jackets scheduled for tonight. That was a known variable. Olli Maatta having hand surgery was not.
The poor guy has been through a lot in his career
OK, so that is going to alter things on the trade front. I have viewed Olli Maatta as one of the Penguins more tradable assets. However with the injury that not only eliminates a valuable piece, but creates a lineup hole. Throw in Justin Schultz's likely concussion issues from a Byfuglien hit and this will further complicate things
It takes a lot of luck to win a Stanley Cup and part of that luck is being healthy. Losing Maatta for six weeks and Schultz for an unknown period of time creates a time on ice hole for the defense unit, but it is doubtful that either injury is season ending. In fact if the team utilizes his LTIR they will probably do what the Blackhawks did with Patrick Kane and wait until the playoffs to activate him. This gives the team some financial flexibility. On the surface that seems like good news in a bad situation and it is.
That said, I do have some concerns about what these injuries will do to Jim Rutherford's approach to the trade deadline. I worry about the temptations of a general manager who is not going to be in his job position in for the long term trying to maximize what is left of his tenure without a focus on the future. All trades should have a long term focus for the franchise. This team was in terrible shape a few years ago as far as making legit runs at a Stanley Cup. They were wasting Crosby and Malkin's best years with poor depth and bad goaltending. Through some very good trades from Rutherford and some out of nowhere contributions from Shero draft picks the Penguins have found themselves in a great spot to maximize the rest of Crosby and Malkin's productive years.
The Penguins cannot fall back into old habits of sacrificing the future for the now. The Olli Maatta injury is far from ideal, but let's face it he wasn't playing great hockey this year. It shouldn't cause panic. I'm not saying Rutherford will panic, but he is a GM that likes to make a splash and based on his overall track record sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don't think they are in need of a splash right at the moment. The team has very good forward depth and they have a very good starting goaltender. They have defensemen that are bleeding more shot attempts than you'd like to see, but they do a good job activating and helping the forwards create offense.
It is understandable if the team wants to make some depth moves. I have no issue there. Any big move needs to make sense for the long term and shouldn't just be made to "save" the 2016-17 season. Players like Daniel Sprong , Jake Guentzel, and first round picks shouldn't be part of trade discussions unless you are a clear winner in a trade for a top level defenseman that is going to help for years to come.
The deadline is two weeks away and Pittsburgh is definitely a team to watch. I'll have some trade target ideas in some blogs to come.
Thanks for reading!
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