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The Detroit Red Wings cleared up some space on a crowded defence.
The Red Wings traded veteran defenceman Olli Maatta to the Utah Hockey Club for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, which originally belonged to the New York Rangers. The pick was acquired by Utah in 2023, when the club played in Arizona, in a deal for current Red Wing forward Patrick Kane.
The Red Wings signed the six-foot-two, 207-pound Maatta to a one-year deal prior to the 2022-23 season and agreed to a two-year extension for $3 million per season near the end of the season. The 30-year-old Maatta is in the final season of that contract.
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Detroit had been carrying eight defencemen with veterans Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry and Justin Holl, who appeared to have been squeezed out of a roster spot before the deal.
The move also allows the Red Wings to make more playing time for Erik Gustafsson, Simon Edvinsson and rookie Albert Johansson.
Maatta had appeared in seven of Detroit’s nine games this season and was averaging 15 minutes and 52 seconds of ice time per game with no points or penalty minutes.
A former first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Maatta is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and has also spent time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings.
With the selection, the Red Wings now have eight picks in the seven-round 2025 NHL Draft. The Red Wings now have multiple picks in the third round and seventh round, but are without a pick in the fourth round. That fourth-round selection was traded with Robby Fabbri to Anaheim for goalie Gage Alexander. The additional seventh-round pick was part of the return with Dylan McLaughlin in a trade with the St. Louis Blues for Jakub Vrana in 2023.
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