This isn’t the first time Olli Maatta has been completely healthy since he entered the NHL.
Just the first time in quite a while.
“It’s been nice,” he said, smiling.
Maatta’s medical history is headlined by, though hardly limited to, major shoulder surgeries in 2014 and 2015 and a bout with thyroid cancer a little more than two years ago.
But his only issues as the middle of this season approaches apparently are the bumps and bruises that are an occupational hazard in his line of work.
And, perhaps not coincidentally, Maatta enters the Penguins game tonight at New Jersey playing his finest hockey of the season.