Olli Maatta is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the nicest dudes you will ever meet. But it was time for goodbye.
Maatta is one of the slowest defensemen in the entire National Hockey League. He was the slowest Pittsburgh Penguin. This team wants to get back to playing fast paced up tempo hockey. Getting rid of Maatta is addition by subtraction as it relates to team speed.
Jim Rutherford was able to get some value out of the deal by acquiring Domonik Kahun, a 23-year-old forward who scored 12 goals and 35 points at even strength last year. For reference, Phil Kessel scored 15 five on five goals.
Kahun is a versatile player who can play all three forward positions. 29 of his points were goals or primary assists. The kid can play. He also only costs 975,000. Maatta was set to be paid about 4.1 million dollars by Pittsburgh next year.
This is only the first domino to fall in an important Penguins offseason, but it was a shrewd move by Jim Rutherford.