The 6’2, 201 pound center currently plays NCAA hockey for the University of Vermont. Last season, he appeared in 32 games scoring three goals and six points. Määttä spent the previous two years with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL, where he scored 20 goals and 45 points in 95 games. He appeared in three games for Finland at the 2022 World Juniors, where he recorded one goal and two assists in two games. Advertisement – Continue Reading Below The Oilers would know a lot about Määttä since Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft’s brother Todd is the head coach at the University. The Oilers drafted another University of Vermont product last year in German defenseman Luca Münzenberger. @Musketeerhockey Alum @joel_maatta scores where he’s at..clear front! #NHLDraft#Matty pic.twitter.com/m1lyIB0SOD — Luke Strand (@strand_luke) December 26, 2021 Here’s a recap of the season from the University of Vermont, as well as a scouting report on the forward: Määttä played in 32 games for the Catamounts recording three goals and three assists for six points… Scored his first career goal on Feb. 19 at Merrimack… His first career multi-point game came on March 4 at UConn, with one goal and one assist … Five of his six points came in the final 10 games of the season … Määttä represented Finland at the shortened 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta … In two games Määttä had a goal and two assists for Finland , including the Dec. 26 game-winner against Germany and UVM teammate Luca Münzenberger … Averaged 15:18 of ice time for the 2-0-0 Finns … Määttä was third in the tournament in faceoff percentage winning 74.2 percent of his draws… Won 23 of 31 face-offs. – University of Vermont It is Määttä’s defensive ability that creates value. He’s so tough on the puck, so relentless on defensive zone recoveries, and he’s not afraid to get physical when the moment calls for it. Hell, he put a Black Hawks player on his ass seconds after losing the first game. He reverse hit another Black Hawks player in the second. He is sturdy. Maybe a little too robust. – EliteProspects It’s Määttä’s punishing net presence and two-way reliability in the middle that creates more value than his pedestrian stat line suggests. Even so, the boxcars start to look better when you consider the environment the Musketeers provided as the worst team in the Eastern Conference — a backdrop made worse at the deadline as they used most of their complementary talent to begin their rebuild. –Joey Padmanabhan, EP Rinkside, 2020 Zach Laing is news director and senior columnist for the Nation Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @zjlaingor contact by email at [email protected] Advertisement – Continue Reading Below NATION VACATION is presented by PointsBet Canada. Come hang out with us on our 1st Summer Vacation in Toronto! For only $1399 + tax, you’ll have everything included in the graphics and memories to last a lifetime. Get your tickets here.
