Confirmed with Link: Maatta traded to Utah for a 3rd Round Pick

[RED WINGS STOMP]

If we are sending a d man to the Rangers, make them take Gus back.

 

[KJoe88]

I mean maybe I'm a biased OT Benny fan or something. But I don't mind him?

View attachment 923817

I love him on the team personally too

 

[Oddbob]

My brother heard on 590am this morning (listening to radio while trucking) that they were talking about rumblings of a possibility Maatta was moved to make room for Liljegren who has been healthy scratched in Toronto. Probably just Toronto media throwing shit at the wall, but who knows. Same cap hit as Maatta.

 

[jaster]

Ed - AlJo is not that far fetched. AlJo does like to play on his off side.

True, they played together a bunch in GR, but I don't think you'll ever see Detroit go L-L, R-R in the top-4, even with AlJo's ability to play the right side.

 

[jaster]

This is the GM saying you're going to play him in my opinion...

Yzerman : Derek, you got a minute?

Lalonde : Yeah. Take a seat.

Yzerman : You can't start Maatta on the 3rd pair tonight. You'll have to start Johansson.

Lalonde : Yeah, I don't want to go fifteen rounds, Stevie. The lineup card is mine, and that's all.

Yzerman : That lineup card is definitely yours. I'm just saying you can't start Maatta on the 3rd pair.

Lalonde : Well, I am starting him on the 3rd pair.

Yzerman : I don't think so. He plays for Utah now.

Lalonde : You *traded* Maatta?

- conversation between Yzerman and Lalonde, probably

 

[LongTimeDRWF]

You will never see Detroit deploy:

Seider - ASP
Ed - AlJo

AND I THINK MOST OF YOU KNOW WHY

Yep, realistically, the only time it may happen is on a real bad line change...although I believe that Al-Jo has played with Ed on his off wing in GR.

 

[RRhoads]

True, they played together a bunch in GR, but I don't think you'll ever see Detroit go L-L, R-R in the top-4, even with AlJo's ability to play the right side.

Yeah, same side shot in the top 4 seems unlikely.

 

[Vandalay Industries]

Just a basic good trade for both parties.

People that complain it was Määtä instead of Chiarot or Holl or whomever just has to consider, that there is another team involved in this trade as well, and they also has a preference for the best player they can get.

For Yzerman this was not as much about removing the worst fitted player as it was about cap management and future assets management.

By making the trade Yzerman cleared $3 million of the roster and handed Johansson a ticket in. Over the summer I think Y wanted to hold on to all defenders untill he was absolutely positive that Edvinsson was 100% ready for the task on hand. Well, Edvinsson sure has been convincing and made it possible to move Johansson one step forward as well as the next couple of prospects in the D-pool. The best of them being Sandin Pellikka.

I'm sure Yzerman has listened to the market to find the best possible trade to move a defender for a pick, and this is what Utah would agree to.

Let's say there was another proposal from another team who would take Holl for a third round pick, then I can understand the complaining, but there probably wasn't so I'm pretty sure Yzerman wound up finding the best trade in the circumstances that presented itself. This trade is a micro result of the overall strategic maneuvering which is to lay down the bricks one by one in order to build the strongest possible team in years to come. Not just a year or two.

 

[sepster]

So far it seems I’ve yet to hear of legit good reasons for Walman being run out. He had a tough year but so did pretty much our whole defense and I think he is a lot better than the guys we have in our bottom 4 now because they are atrocious. If it was because he liked to party and celly too much then get over it. Sometimes it does feel like the brass of this organization are living in the wrong century. Our biggest issue on defense is we can’t skate in our bottom 4 and yzerman just keeps signing people like that. It’s 2024!

Myself and a couple of other posters who have gotten information from people associated with the team have explicitly stated why he was traded (he did something that landed him in the "locker room cancer" bin). It's been said multiple times over several months. But you know that. You've heard (read) it, you just refuse to accept it.

 

[OldnotDeadWings]

Yzerman : Derek, you got a minute?

Lalonde : Yeah. Take a seat.

Yzerman : You can't start Maatta on the 3rd pair tonight. You'll have to start Johansson.

Lalonde : Yeah, I don't want to go fifteen rounds, Stevie. The lineup card is mine, and that's all.

Yzerman : That lineup card is definitely yours. I'm just saying you can't start Maatta on the 3rd pair.

Lalonde : Well, I am starting him on the 3rd pair.

Yzerman : I don't think so. He plays for Utah now.

Lalonde : You *traded* Maatta?

- conversation between Yzerman and Lalonde, probably

Moneyball theft, certainly

 

[LongTimeDRWF]

We're all adults here. If it wasn't obviously on-ice it was either an action or attitude SY didn't like and wanted to make a point out of to the room. It's that simple, to me.

Yes Sir, and the cost to send him to the NHL Siberia was a second that he got from the Preds. SY knows more than most the importance of the room atmosphere. I still think SY was trying to land Trouba and it was a convenient excuse, but he was going to move on from Jake and I am sure he wanted some control over where he went and where he ends up.

The futures may be that SJ cannot trade Jake...and he gets the personal reboot he needs.

 

[OldnotDeadWings]

Obviously a solid value trade and predictable that pending UFA Maatta would be moved at some point, but the timing of it so early in the season makes it interesting. It could be primarily to open up a regular spot for AlJo, but it may be more important from a Cap perspective. Puckpedia has them with about $3.6M in Cap space. They don't need to make a Cap dump deal to create enough space to finally finish off the summer shopping list at 2RD. That's the biggest roster issue complicating a playoff push. There are other holes and other problems, but from a roster perspective that's the biggest one.

Maatta and Veleno started the season as the most vulnerable players to being traded, between them making $5.275M but not Cap dumps or in the team's long-term plans. Veleno has been okay so far, but getting his $2.275M off the books and replaced by an ELC or low-rent vet would allow them to take on up to $5M for someone capable of playing 20 minutes at a decent or even good level. IE, Rasmus Andersson, 27yo with another year remaining at $4.55M and the subject of many trade rumors. He would cost a lot more than just Veleno, but there's enough quality prospect depth to make a good offer if Calgary decides to trade him.

The Walman trade was discussed ad nauseum in the summer. He was not a guy Detroit wanted to keep, for reasons that were never fully explained but related to both dressing room and playing issues. The cost to get rid of an unwanted $3M player was a second- or third-round Draft pick. Same thing happened with Joseph in Ottawa and Hayes in St. Louis, both also traded with picks for FC..

 

[RED WINGS STOMP]

Gotta remember, Utah only went shopping because Durzi and Marino has serious injuries right now, so a guy on an expiring contract is exactly what they want.

 

[Frk It]

My biggest complaint is that I think Maatta is better than Chiarot, Petry, Holl and Gustafsson so it kind of worries me that we've once again identified the wrong guy as the odd man out. Walman, Ghost and Maatta have been Yzerman's only pro defenseman additions that have played like functional hockey players and all three are gone. Meanwhile, we actively hoard the worst defensemen in the league. I'm happy to have the roster spot and the third round pick though.

So ultimately, it's a good trade. Slightly troubling because of the context, but still good.

Seeing a lot of discussion of the Walman trade in here. And I just want to say: let's accept the narrative that Walman didn't fight hard enough to come back from injury and was a voice of poor influence in the locker room. A trade like this is exactly why I think moving him in an act of desperation was the wrong call anyway. We could have foregone signing Gustafsson (or adding Trouba), let Walman play to start the year, waited for someone to need his services and gotten a sizeable return. Even if I were to accept that he was a coke fiend who made a pass at Larkin's partner and was handing out copies of Mein Kampf in the locker room, we didn't need to be rid of him as fast as possible.

There's no reason that he needed to go so badly in the summer that we had to pay to get rid of our fifth best player. Our fifteenth best player was worth a third because we were patient. We should be able to handle having one guy Stevie doesn't want at his birthday party in the locker room for ten games if it means getting a good asset back instead of paying one. The way he's playing, I wouldn't be the least but surprised to see San Jose get a first round pick+ for him.

Considering just the Maatta trade in a vacuum, I'm happy with it.

I don’t think all of those guys are moveable for an asset, and I don’t think Maatta is enough better than them to where you don’t do this.

So I have 0 issue with this trade (I just wonder if this was available during the off season or at last years deadline).

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

My biggest complaint is that I think Maatta is better than Chiarot, Petry, Holl and Gustafsson so it kind of worries me that we've once again identified the wrong guy as the odd man out. Walman, Ghost and Maatta have been Yzerman's only pro defenseman additions that have played like functional hockey players and all three are gone. Meanwhile, we actively hoard the worst defensemen in the league. I'm happy to have the roster spot and the third round pick though.

So ultimately, it's a good trade. Slightly troubling because of the context, but still good.

Maatta was playing limited and sheltered minutes. If you put Chiarot in that role he'd look great.

As for the others it comes down to Maatta's contract being easiest to move. A serviceable bottom pairing guy at the end of his contract.

Besides Utah can pair Maatta with Shea Weber and he'll look great! lol

 

[lilidk]

Now we have 7 defansman and 5 of them third pair. They need to make another trade and get second pair d.

 

[SirloinUB]

I didn't hate Maatta at all. I was probably one of his biggest supporters on here. AlJo is not ready to babysit the train wreck that is Holl and Gus who are now even more guaranteed to have at least one of them in the lineup every night which makes us a worse team. I get that they can't move Holl or Petry, but they should have been moved someone else first, or better yet, just keep sitting Gus and Holl. Gus could have been waived to GR as well.

Aljo has only been just barely ok so far in his 3 games and was not outplaying Maatta. He also has played 11, 11, 15 or so in minutes so I am not even sure where the supposed trust from the coach has come as Lalonde still sat him for 6 games and played him the least of all of the 8 D.

Not to start shit but in part I wonder if this move reflects a bit of a division between Lalonde and Yzerman. ie. Lalonde wasn't ready to trust Johansson, Yzerman wants AlJo in the lineup.

I don't know. Just a passing thought.

 

[raymond23]

Yzerman wants Aljo in the lineup?

He waited until Aljo had zero waiver eligibility to even give him a chance on the roster

He spent $26+ million on 8 nhl defenseman, 5 of which are bottom pairing dmen and 2 of which are rookies

Yzerman doesn't want Aljo in the lineup, he's just poorly managing a roster

 

[AlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

yes you shouldnt be able to talk about hockey moves on a hockey forum. You just have to blindly clap and follow.

I respect your schtick but we should be able to say that walman trade was bit of a head scratcher.

me on my deathbed - "and wtf was yzerman thinking on that walman trade???"

 

[SantosHalper]

Thanks for the memories Olli! Of the finns, 2nd most games in Detroit.
------------------
Rangers 3rd round pick, eh, maybe they get it back around the draft and we get Trouba.

 

[jkutswings]

I agree with this, exactly. I still don't like that the wrong guy is getting moved out.

I think it's less that Maatta needed to be the one to go, and more that Holl and Gus are much closer to immovable. And I view it as a silver lining that the move was still made, since it speaks to confidence in the kid, even if the other spare parts are pretty lousy.

 

[raymond23]

I think it's less that Maatta needed to be the one to go, and more that Holl and Gus are much closer to immovable. And I view it as a silver lining that the move was still made, since it speaks to confidence in the kid, even if the other spare parts are pretty lousy.

Confidence in a kid they've given less than 40 minutes of ice time so far this season?
Confidence in a kid who wasn't put on the roster until his waiver eligibility was up?

 

[SirloinUB]

Confidence in a kid they've given less than 40 minutes of ice time so far this season?
Confidence in a kid who wasn't put on the roster until his waiver eligibility was up?

Barring another trade happening, yes.

If they weren't comfortable with him playing they would have shipped out another dman.

 

[datsyukfan]

I like the value we got for him. I didn't mind him on the team. Wish we could have unloaded worse D-Men instead.

That’s the problem, the less d-men are such negative assets that nobody will touch them

My brother heard on 590am this morning (listening to radio while trucking) that they were talking about rumblings of a possibility Maatta was moved to make room for Liljegren who has been healthy scratched in Toronto. Probably just Toronto media throwing shit at the wall, but who knows. Same cap hit as Maatta.

I would welcome liljegren at least he is fairly young, can run a 2nd unit PP and move the puck.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

Myself and a couple of other posters who have gotten information from people associated with the team have explicitly stated why he was traded (he did something that landed him in the "locker room cancer" bin). It's been said multiple times over several months. But you know that. You've heard (read) it, you just refuse to accept it.

I think pretty much everyone is open to the idea that Walman’s off-ice behavior spurred the trade. But I’m never taking internet poster source information as gospel, certainly not when someone’s character is involved. No disrespect to you or anyone else who claims that Walman did x y or z, but I don’t think there’s enough publicly available information to know either way.

Even taking the locker room issues for granted, that doesn’t explain why you don’t try waivers. I’ve yet to see a compelling answer to that beyond Trust Yzerman he knows more than you about the league’s temperature and even if not it’s not a big deal so please stop talking about Walman.