Detroit Red Wings news: Olli Määttä officially placed on Injured Reserve

The Detroit Red Wings have made some roster moves ahead of their contest in Minnesota against the Wild on Wednesday night. With Dylan Larkin sustaining an injury in the recent loss to the Hurricanes, the team had to call up a forward.

They ultimately reneged on their recent move sending Elmer Söderblom to Grand Rapids, calling him back up while Larkin undergoes further evaluation and a decision is made. In conjunction with that move, the team announced that defenseman Olli Määttä had been placed on the Injured Reserve (IR).

https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/1603034624397033472?s=20&t=v_63XHq15gUq8kkLpzUabg

It has been over a week since Määttä has suited up for the Red Wings, last playing during the road trip in Florida, where the Red Wings beat the Lightning down in Tampa. The move of Määttä to the IR is retroactive to said game on December 6th.

The Red Wings’ defense core has been a weak spot lately. The recent Blue Line Report by OT’s own Steven Shaw sheds some light on the players who have been slacking. Määttä was not one of those players.

Detroit Red Wings place Olli Määttä on Injured Reserve.

Määttä has been a quality addition to the Red Wings’ defense core this season. He has been effective on both ends of the ice and performed well. The injury has kept him from the ice being deemed an illness.

Hopefully, for Määttä, he will be able to get back on track and return to the ice sooner than later. With Robert Hägg also being placed on the IR, the defense core continues to thin out. The defense core continues to thin out.

While defenseman Steve Kampfer was called up from the Griffins roster to replace Hagg, he’s not going to perform as well as Määttä was. The defense core thinning means more reliance on Gustav Lindstrom and Jordan Oesterle to piece together solid games, a worrisome situation.

It sucks to lose Määttä. Even though he has been out for over a week, he has been a solid performer. In 25 games this season, he has two goals and eight assists for ten total points on the Red Wings’ blue line.

The move to the IR for Määttä is a bit concerning. Not as concerning as it will be if Larkin is also sent to the IR, but still something to keep an eye on. No real update was provided as to what Määttä is dealing with.

The only thing noted was that he was ruled out due to a non-COVID illness on Tuesday. Hopefully, Määttä can make a speedy recovery and return to the Red Wings’ defense core to help pick up the performance there.