Utah Hockey Club Needed Depth on Defense
The Utah Hockey Club has been decimated by injuries to its blue line. John Marino and Sean Durzi are both out long-term. Even before the injuries, GM Bill Armstrong was looking to improve his hockey club, and expectations were set higher this year.
Armstrong knows how a championship team is built and is not doing his job as a general manager if he is not working the phones. The process got sped up a little bit with the injuries.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet joined Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio to discuss the Utah Hockey Club’s acquisition of Olli Maatta and why it was him and not someone else.
NHL Injuries: Hurricanes, Avs, Wild, Devils, Penguins, Sharks, Maple Leafs, and Capitals
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: “Friedge, just a deal that took place late last night, though, a minor deal, right? But was it a deal that Bill Armstrong had to make knowing about Durzi and Marino being out for as long as they’re going to be out, just to get a guy back from Detroit as they did for Olli Maatta for a third-round pick?
Just speak to that because, again, Utah is off to a good start. They’ve fallen back a little bit here of late, and surely they want to kind of hang around a little bit and adding some depth to their blue line core.”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well, the only thing that surprised me about it is that Maatta is a left-hand shot right. So they were looking for righties. But, I mean, we knew they were going to do something, and they didn’t want anybody with term. And his contract is up after this year. He’s also a UFA after this year. So it kind of checked all the boxes that we were thinking about.
NHL Rumors: St. Louis Blues, Salary Deferrals, and Some Teams Looking to Add
But I was just a little, looking at him, simply because I was looking for righties. But I don’t think anyone is surprised that Utah did it. I don’t think anyone is surprised at Utah, that Utah did it after that game. It got Detroit a bit higher pick than I think a lot of us were expecting, but I don’t think that’s going to surprise anyone that he ended up being the guy.”