With the acquisition of Olli Määttä, Utah Hockey Club has even more Finnish flare.
The veteran defenseman adds stability to Utah’s backend which has been skating short-handed due to injuries. Teammate Juuso Välimäki, however, was particularly pleased with the Hockey Club’s new acquisition for off-the-ice reasons.“Obviously I think we needed more Finns. I’m very happy about that,” Välimäki said with a smile. “I think three is a good number. ... I’m probably personally one of the happiest guys to have him.
“I think being around the guys the whole time , getting to know them, it’s awesome,” Määttä said. “I think it was easier to get in here than I thought it would be. I feel like a part of the team now, so that’s a positive.” “It’s nice to have a couple Finns. When you have time outside of hockey to just talk about things and talk in Finnish because you sometimes feel like you lose a little bit when you don’t use it much.”
The NHL was recently brought to Finland for the 2024 Global Series in which the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars played two games at Nokia Arena last week. Määttä has made an immediate impact for Utah in terms of load management. The team has skated with 11 forwards and seven defensemen the past two games, lightening some of the responsibility for defensemen like Mihail Sergachev.
Määttä has rotated through the defensive pairs and has logged time with nearly every Utah defenseman, including Välimäki who is working to be more dependable.
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