Focused squarely on the job at hand, Olli Maatta hadn't heard much about an extension with the Red Wings until a few days ago. His agent came to him and said, "We might have something here. Do you want to stay or not?" For Maatta, it wasn't much of a question.
He answered by signing a two-year, $6 million deal.
"I'm happy, obviously," Maatta said Thursday before he helped the Red Wings to their fifth straight win. "I love it here and I like where we're going. The organization is awesome, I like the city. It's nice to be somewhere that they trust you to give you that contract."
Maatta has been nothing but trustworthy in his first season in Detroit. He's played steady second-pair minutes on the Red Wings' blueline and brought valuable experience to a young locker room. He's even chipped in some offense, with more points this season than he had in the prior two seasons combined.
Rather than let Maatta test free agency this summer, Steve Yzerman secured a core piece of Detroit's defensive corps through 2024-25. And rather than re-exploring the open market, Maatta stayed right where he feels he belongs.
"I want to be here," he said. "I think we've shown at times how good we can be, and we're in a fight right now. We're playing good hockey and we can definitely make a push here, so I think that's really exciting."
A 10-year vet who's still just 28 years old, Maatta has helped the Red Wings play tighter defensively in their first season under Derek Lalonde. His smart, risk-free game echoes what Lalonde has been preaching from the moment he arrived. And his knack for making a clean first pass enables the Wings to spend less time in their own end. There were times in years past where they could never get out of it.
"I like the way we play, I think it fits me well," Maatta said. "There's a lot of freedom, but also with the systems that are in place, we play good as a five-man unit when everyone is on the same page. That's the biggest thing. … When we play as a five-man unit, we're really hard to beat."
Turns out, so is living in Detroit.
"I was actually surprised how nice it is, and the people are awesome," said Maatta. "I've had a great time here. Obviously when you visit, you only see downtown Detroit and that's gotten even way better than what it used to be when I got to the league. But Michigan as a whole, I really enjoy it."
Maatta has spent most of his career playing meaningful hockey. He's a two-time Cup winner with more than a full season's worth of playoff games to his name. He's only missed the playoffs once and doesn't plan on missing them again. Meanwhile, the Wings just might make them for the first time in seven seasons.
It's refreshing for Mattaa that "it feels like every game matters now," he said. And it's reassuring that he'll be here for at least two more years.
"Having this done, it's awesome," he said. "It gives you that confidence and that relief that you're going to be here and you can kind of put all your eggs in one basket. You know you're going to be around and try to help the team make that push."
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