Blackhawks trade Maatta to Kings
The Chicago Blackhawks announced Sunday they have traded defenceman Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward Brad Morrison. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the Blackhawks will retain $750,108 of Maatta's $4,083,333 salary for the 2020-21 season. Maatta has two years left on his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 season.
TRADE ALERT: The #Blackhawks have acquired forward Brad Morrison from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for defenseman Olli Maatta.
Release: https://t.co/2RWtj8WiPO pic.twitter.com/GUQZoKf0su— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 4, 2020
The #blackhawks retain $750,108 of Olli Maatta's $4,083,333 salary/cap hit.— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 4, 2020
Maatta, 26, was drafted in the first round, 22nd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2012 NHL entry draft. He spent the first 6 years of his career with the Penguins, then was traded in June 2019 to Chicago for Dominik Kahun and a 5th round pick in the 2019 NHL entry draft.
In 427 regular season games, he's put up 124 points (29 G, 95 A), 118 penalty minutes, and is a +61. In 78 career playoff games, Maatta has 27 points (5 G, 22 A), 24 penalty minutes and is a +28. He won back to back Stanley Cups as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
Morrison, 23, was drafted in fourth round, 113th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2015 NHL entry draft. He did not sign with the Rangers and became a free agent. He signed a three year entry level contract with the Los Angeles Kings on May 1st 2018.
Morrison spent the 2019-20 season with the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL where he had 19 points (6 G, 13 A), 4 penalty minutes and was a -6 in 17 games.
His first season of pro was 2018-19 and he played for the Kings AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. In 50 games with Ontario, Morrison put up 20 points (10 G, 10 A), 13 penalty minutes, and was a +/-0.
This deal frees up just about $3 million in cap space for Chicago. I'm interested to see if they'll use that money to try and persuade pending UFA goaltender Corey Crawford to stay with the team. It also gives them a bit more space to work with to re-sign pending RFA forwards Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik. The Blackhawks now have just over $11 million available in cap space for next season.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Roope Hintz | - | 4 | 4 | |
| Ross Colton | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jason Robertson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Steel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mika Zibanejad | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Thomas Harley | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Oliver Kylington | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Will Cuylle | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Warren Foegele | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vinnie Hinostroza | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Wyatt Johnston | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matthew Knies | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Trevor Moore | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William Nylander | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 60 | 42 | 15 | 3 | 87 | |
Capitals | 59 | 38 | 13 | 8 | 84 | |
Stars | 58 | 37 | 19 | 2 | 76 | |
Golden Knights | 59 | 35 | 18 | 6 | 76 | |
Panthers | 60 | 36 | 21 | 3 | 75 | |
Maple Leafs | 58 | 36 | 20 | 2 | 74 | |
Lightning | 58 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 72 | |
Hurricanes | 59 | 34 | 21 | 4 | 72 | |
Oilers | 59 | 34 | 21 | 4 | 72 | |
Wild | 59 | 34 | 21 | 4 | 72 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||