The Edmonton Oilers selected forward Joel Määttä 222nd overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
6’2, 201 lbs. center currently plays NCAA hockey for the University of Vermont. Last season, he appeared in 32 games, scoring three goals and six points.
Määttä spent the previous two years with the USHL Sioux City Musketeers, where he scored 20 goals and 45 points in 95 games. He appeared in three games for Finland at the 2022 World Juniors, where he had a goal and two assists in two games.
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The Oilers would know a lot about Määttä considering that Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft’s brother, Todd, is the head coach at the university. The Oilers drafted another University of Vermont product last year in German defenseman Luca Munzenberger.
@Musketeerhockey Alum @joel_maatta scores where it belongs..net in front! #NHLDraft#Matty pic.twitter.com/m1lyIB0SOD
— Luke Strand (@strand_luke) December 26, 2021
Here’s a recap of the season from the University of Vermont, as well as a scouting report on the forward:
Määttä played in 32 games for the Catamounts, registering three goals and three assists for six points…He scored his first career goal on Feb. 19 at Merrimack…His first career multi-point game came on March 4 at UConn, with a goal and an assist … Five of his six points came in the final 10 games of the season … Määttä represented Finland at the shortened 2022 IIHF World Junior Championships in Alberta … In two games, Määttä recorded a goal and two assists for Finland, including the game-winner at Dec. 26 vs. Germany and UVM teammate Luca Münzenberger … He averaged 15:18 of ice time for the 2-0-0 Finns … Maata was third in the tournament in faceoff percentage, winning 74.2 percent of his ties… He won 23 of He took 31 head-to-head meetings. – University of Vermont
Määttä’s defensive ability is what generates value. He’s so strong with the puck, so relentless in rebounding the defensive zone and isn’t afraid to get physical when the moment calls for it. Heck, he put a Black Hawks player on his ass just seconds after losing the faceoff. He reversed shots on another Black Hawks player in the second. He is healthy. Maybe a little too strong. – EliteProspects
It’s Määttä’s punishing presence at the front of the net and two-way reliability up the middle that creates value beyond what his pedestrian stat line suggests. Still, the wagons are starting to look better when you consider the environment the Musketeers offered as the worst team in the Eastern Conference — a situation that worsened at the deadline as they dealt away most of their extra talent for to start their recovery. – Joey Padmanabhan, EP Rinkside, 2020
Zach Laing is News Director and Senior Columnist for the Nation Network. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaingor reached by email at [email protected]
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