One might think that being traded internationally twice in a four-month span is particularly taxing on an NHL player — but former Utah Mammoth defenseman Olli Määttä said it wasn’t that bad.
“This move is the easiest one yet,” Määttä said on a Finnish-language podcast (interpreted by Google Translate). “Our gear is already in storage, so we just have to tell the company not to unload it in Calgary but to bring it back across the border.”
Määttä, 31, was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Minnesota Wild on July 2. He’d only been in Calgary since March, when the Mammoth traded him there as part of the MacKenzie Weegar deal.
Any day with an NHL logo on your chest is a good day, right?
“It’s more exciting than anything,” Määttä said in his introductory press conference with the Wild reporters. “I’m happy to be part of a team like that that’s pushing to win. It’s a really good feeling that they want me.”
Määttä has been at both ends of the desirability spectrum over the last few years.
As a Detroit Red Wing, he was a frequent healthy scratch to begin the 2024-25 season, but less than a month into the year, the then-Utah Hockey Club paid a third-round pick to get him.
Määttä was exactly what Utah needed at the time.
With long-term injuries to John Marino and Sean Durzi, their options in terms of puck-moving defensemen who could play the right side were few. Määttä stepped in and stabilized the team, earning himself a three-year contract extension with a $500,000 yearly raise.
In 2025-26, though, a handful of bad games earned Määttä a near-permanent seat in the press box. He had a good Olympic tournament for Team Finland, bagging the second bronze medal of his career, but his position with Utah didn’t change.
The Mammoth traded him at a perceived negative value to the lottery-contending Flames, where he quickly breathed life back into his career with 14 points in 21 games.
The Flames capitalized on that momentum by sending him to the Wild, who could realistically contend for the Stanley Cup next season.
“Remembering what it was like in Pittsburgh when we had good teams, it’s (a) pretty amazing feeling when you can be part of something bigger than yourself,” Määttä said. “You can kind of leave your pride and ego at home and you do whatever it takes to win. You do your role as good as you can and there’s no better feeling than that.”
Määttä won the Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where current Wild GM Bill Guerin was an assistant general manager at the time. He appreciates the confidence Guerin still has in him.
What will Olli Määttä’s role be with the Minnesota Wild?
It’s likely that Määttä begins the season on Minnesota’s third pairing, possibly alongside fellow veteran Zach Bogosian.
The Wild would like to see top prospects David Špaček and Carson Lambos earn their way into the NHL at some point, but Määttä and Bogosian ensure that if those two aren’t ready, the team isn’t left out to dry.
Määttä is approaching the age at which some hockey players start struggling, but he feels he’s still improving. He noted, though, that development is rarely linear.
“There’s going to be ups and downs like there (were) at the beginning of last season. I don’t think I was playing my best hockey, but at the same time, I have a lot of confidence. It’s not like I can’t do it anymore,” he said.
“... I honestly hope I can put a good summer together and keep working on those things and keep working on my game and show up next year, even on a better level, and help the team there.”
Määttä has two homecomings to look forward to this season, and they come five days apart. He and the Wild visit the Saddledome in Calgary on Oct. 22 and the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 27.
He faced the Mammoth in Calgary once last season, contributing an assist in a 4-1 Flames win.
