Effort and accountability have never been issues for defenseman Olli Maatta. Few Penguins care more about their craft. In fact, Maatta has found trouble in the past by doing too much during practice and emptying the tank.
It’s that same want-to that caused Maatta problems during portions of last season and cost him his starting job for three games in the Eastern Conference final. Only after he was reinserted into the lineup for Game 5 against Tampa Bay did Maatta start to feel like himself. And relax.
Maatta is hoping to bottle that approach, to maybe let a few more things go, and to bounce back from what he openly said “may have been the worst season of my career.