Olli Maatta Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections
Look for this line to stay hot against a struggling team
Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Zach Aston-Reese will look to stay hot tonight in Pittsburgh after producing a combined five points last night. Pittsburgh is second in the league so far in the month of December in HDCF/60 (14.07). Aston-Reese coming in around minimum salary across the industry helps bring down the overall cost of this stack. It also looks like star defenseman Kris Letang will miss tonight’s game after sustaining a lower body injury in last nights contest. This should give Olli Maata an increased role and increased ice time at a near minimum price tag as well.
Pittsburgh defenseman has four assists in last six contests
Though the Penguins have struggled offensively recently, Finnish blue liner Olli Maatta has found ways to contribute. Last time out, Maatta factored into the Penguins' only goal in addition to taking three shots on goal and blocking two shots. Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan is looking for a spark and has juggled his lines, even splitting up the top power play unit. The Penguins figure to roll out their first power play unit which will feature Patric Hornqvist, Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Olli Maatta. Olli is dirt-cheap on DraftKings ($3,100) and reasonable on FanDuel ($3,800) if looking for salary relief.
Value On The Blue Line
The New York Islanders are a defensive dumpster fire, ranking 26th overall in the National Hockey League in CA/60, 29th in HDCA/60 and 31st in SCA/60, resulting in them allowing a league high 3.63 goals against per game this season. Over the past month, the Islanders have actually been worse defensively, allowing 4.20 goals against per game (by far the most in the game), while toting the leagues worst penalty kill. This means the Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen should have a productive night at both even strength and on the power play. The Penguins blue line is almost full healthy, giving us three solid options. Kris Letang is clearly the top option if you can afford him, with Justin Schultz and Olli Maatta making great secondary options at a moderate price. Regardless of which way you go, all three defensemen have plenty of potential tonight in this very favorable matchup.
Injury to Kris Letang creates opportunity for Penguins' blue liner
Oft-injured Kris Letang has been ruled out for tonight's contest with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and thus, Olli Maatta is expected to slot into the Penguins' first power play unit. Olli Maatta is dirt-cheap across the industry (FanDuel - $3,900, DraftKings - $3,600 and FantasyDraft - $6,700) which makes him a viable option across all formats, given how limited the top options on defense are tonight. Maatta has been averaging under 20 minutes per game, but with Justin Schultz still on the shelf, Olli should see a bevy of minutes tonight for Mike Sullivan's Penguins. Olli is not the playmaker Letang is, but it would not be surprising to see Maatta run into an assist tonight. The opportunity is certainly there tonight for Olli.
This defenseman will benefit from his teams number one guy being out
With Kris Letang out with an injury, Olli Maatta will step into a top-pairing and top power play role. The Penguins are in a better-than-expected matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets who are without forwards Alexander Wennberg and Cam Atkinson, along with defenseman Zach Werenski. As the Blue Jackets are depleted with injuries, Pittsburgh looks to benefit greatly from this. The top power play unit is stacked and ranked third in the NHL converting on 24.4 percent of their opportunities. Lining up alongside Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist, Maatta should be able to get on the score sheet if this power play works it's magic like it can. Maatta also contributes a bit peripherally as he garners 1.41 blocks per game and 2.08 shots per game. Assuming he gets on the scoresheet as well, he could be in for a big game and is very cheap across the industry.
New opportunities create a huge opportunity for this blue-liner
Injuries create opportunities, which often leads directly to DFS value. That's certainly the case tonight for Olli Maatta as he'll assume many of the duties left behind by the absence of Justin Schultz on the Pittsburgh blue-line. Maatta has quietly posted a very respectable 13 points in 29 games this season and has shown plenty of offensive upside when given the opportunity during his brief NHL career. With Schultz out of action, Maatta will slide in as the quarterback on the Penguin's dangerous second power-play unit where he'll get to attack a New York Islander's team that owns an Eastern Conference worst 75.0% penalty kill.