CALGARY \u2014 It has been a staggering turnaround for veteran defenceman Olli Maatta.<\/p>\n
The resurgent 31-year-old Finn had two more points Saturday, including the game-winning goal to lead the Calgary Flames to a 7-3 romp over the Vancouver Canucks.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt’s been a lot of fun,\u201d said Maatta, who was part of the return when Calgary dealt MacKenzie Weegar to Utah. \u201cA lot of responsibility, playing a lot, that’s what you want, and teammates here, the whole organization made it very seamless the whole transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Maatta was acquired on March 4 as part of the return for Weegar, it looked more like a salary dump by the Mammoth.<\/p>\n
A healthy scratch for 21 consecutive games at one point, he had only dressed for 22 games during which he had just one assist.<\/p>\n
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Maatta has looked rejuvenated with his new club piling up 10 points (two goals, 10 assists) in 12 games. Since waiving his no-trade clause to come to Calgary, he’s led the team in points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not always easy coming into a new team, but I felt like I didn’t miss a beat,\u201d said Maatta, in year one of a three-year, $10.5-million contract. \u201cSince day one, I felt like I was part of the team and it’s been good. We’ve got a good thing going on here, so let’s just keep that going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasked with taking on a bigger role, Maatta has embraced the top-four opportunity he’s received while erupting offensively.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI take pride of defending, for sure, it’s a big thing, but nowadays you have to have offence. I know I’ve always had it in me and that’s something I’ve been working on getting more and more in my game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calgary coach Ryan Huska has been impressed with what he’s seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s playing free. That’s the one thing with him. He came over and he wanted a fresh start,\u201d said the Flames bench boss. \u201cHe wanted to have an opportunity to play a little bit more and he’s got that here, and I think he’s really enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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While the left-shooting Maatta has rediscovered his own game, he’s also proving to be an invaluable piece when it comes to helping the club’s younger defencemen elevate their game like rookie right-shot defencemen Zayne Parekh, 20, and Hunter Brzustewicz, 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s showing some of our younger guys how a veteran with two Stanley Cups in his closet goes about his business on a daily basis,\u201d said Huska. \u201cHe is a pro, like Michael Backlund and some of our older players, you can see that every day he comes to the rink.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parekh, selected ninth overall in 2024, is being counted on to be a future cornerstone on the blue line and it’s starting to come, chalking up his first multi-point game Saturday with a goal and an assist \u2014 the goal was beauty, Parekh whipping a shot into the top corner on the power play.<\/p>\n
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\u201cLots of skill, and I think the biggest thing is the confidence,\u201d said Maatta. \u201cYou have to have that and (Parekh) definitely has it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, coming in as a young D-man especially, it’s a hard position to play and I think he’s kept his swagger, and you can see that he’s confident, he wants to make plays, he’s making plays, and that’s what’s going to get you better.<\/p>\n
“If you start fearing mistakes and not trusting yourself, that’s when you start taking steps back, and he’s obviously shown how good of a player he is and he’s just gonna get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost also had big nights for Calgary (31-34-8) with a goal and two assists each. Joel Farabee, Ryan Strome and Adam Klapka also tallied as the Flames finish 5-0-1 on their six-game homestand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys that have come in post- (trade) deadline have done a really great job and been impact players for us and filled holes,\u201d said Blake Coleman.<\/p>\n
Calgary will look to carry its momentum into a difficult six-game road trip that begins Monday against the league-leading Colorado Avalanche.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWinning is fun, no matter where you are in the standings or what the season looks like,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cI’m a guy that hates to lose, and we’ve got a lot of those guys in here, so we’re gonna fight until the end and just enjoy the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2026.<\/p>\n
Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 It has been a staggering turnaround for veteran defenceman Olli Maatta. The resurgent 31-year-old Finn had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[4508,8157,895,26,5294,144,896,5,3323,9296,2339,2340,4527,4,13363,3292,6496,27,3326],"class_list":["post-529157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary-flames","tag-adam-klapka","tag-blake-coleman","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-flames","tag-calgaryflames","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-flames","tag-hockey","tag-hunter-brzustewicz","tag-joel-farabee","tag-mackenzie-weegar","tag-matt-coronato","tag-morgan-frost","tag-nhl","tag-olli-maatta","tag-ryan-huska","tag-ryan-strome","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-zayne-parekh"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116312207631421627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}