The Detroit Red Wings signed left-handed defenseman, Oli Maatta this off-season. Little did they know that he may end up their long-term answer.
The Detroit Red Wings, to nobody’s surprise were busy this off-season. After six years of not making the playoffs, and the Red Wings having the prospect depth, it felt like a turnaround was right around the corner. And as it turns out, “Right around the corner” was this off-season.
If the Red Wings wanted to compete and begin making a run towards the playoffs, there were a couple things that needed to be addressed. First things first, they needed to do something about the coaching staff.
Going into the off-season, I think it’s safe to say that we have all seen enough of Jeff Blashill. As bad as that sounds, it’s true. The Red Wings needed a new coach, and that’s exactly what they did.
Shortly after the playoffs had ended, the Red Wings organization announced they were hiring Derek Lalonde. And that’s when the madness started.
After the hiring of Lalonde, they began preparing for the NHL draft in which they drafted center, Marco Kasper with the eighth overall pick. Afterwards, they then traded for goalie, Ville Husso from the St. Louis Blues. And then, they hit the ground running in the free agency market.
Having signed multiple forwards to help improve their depth and goal scoring, the Red Wings checked off one box. The second box they needed to check off was obtaining a left-handed defenseman that could hang with Moritz Seider while Simon Edvinsson develops in the AHL.
Knowing that, Yzerman signed Ben Chiarot to a 4-year deal to make sure that the Red Wings had a veteran defenseman to help keep Seider in proper position. Furthermore, the Red Wings also signed defenseman, Olli Maatta.
Now, I’ll be honest with you all, I wasn’t crazy about that signing. Like, at all. I thought it was a pointless signing because even if Edvinsson was deemed “not ready”, they still had Johansson and Wallinder who could potentially be ready as well. Looking back at that now, I was wrong. Because not only do I feel that the Maatta signing was good, but I think he could potentially be the long-term solution.