Back in October, there was a serious debate among fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins about whether or not the team had made the right choice in keeping Olli Maatta around for the entire season. He'd played well through his first nine games, but was he really ready to help the Stanley Cup-contending Penguins at the age of 19?
Even after that decision was made, Rob Rossi of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review made it a point to note that the team could send Maatta back to the London Knights prior to the 40-game mark and not burn a year off of his free-agent clock:
The number with more meaning for the Penguins regarding Maatta is 40, sources said.
That is the number of games in which Maatta can play for this to count as an accrued season. Playing an accrued season could allow Maatta to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2019-20 season, when Maatta would be 25.
Management has not determined if Maatta will stay in the NHL for the entire season, but only because the Penguins want to see how he handles the physical and mental grind, the sources said.
A lot can change in a matter of two months. ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Franklin Steele
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