Breaking Down the Nikolas Matinpalo Extension

Remember right before game seven of the Stanley Cup Final last season, when Steve Staios decided to steal headlines by trading for Linus Ullmark? Well Staios has done it again! You thought the start of the second round was interesting? Or maybe you believed the Islanders winning the Draft Lottery was the talk of the hockey world. No, as it turns out, the most thrilling hockey story today was the Ottawa Senators re-signing Nikolas Matinpalo. Let’s dive into the details.

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New Matinpalo Contract

Here’s Matinpalo’s extension, starting next season:

• Two years, $875,000 average annual value, UFA at the end of the 2026-27 season

There is no trade protection involved in the deal. This is of course, a one way contract after Matinpalo showed himself to be a capable NHL player during the second half of this season.

Matinpalo By the Numbers

Here were Matinpalo’s numbers this season as an Ottawa Senator:

• 41 games, 1 goal 4 points, 12:37 Time on Ice/Game

Matinpalo played all six of the Senators playoff games, being held without a point while playing 13:04 per game. Matinpalo had played several years in Finland before coming over to the Senators for the 2023-24 season. He played mainly in the AHL that season, scoring four goals and 14 points in 67 games. This season, he had scored two goals and eight points in 24 AHL games before being called up to the NHL around the start of the new year.

Assessing the Extension

Matinpalo deserves full credit here. He was an afterthought on the Sens blueline at the start of the season. After a few injuries to Sens d-men, Matinpalo took full advantage of his opportunity. He even played well enough to end up on Team Finland for the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he performed well. Eventually, he earned the trust of Travis Green to end up in the lineup regularly over Travis Hamonic.

Here’s what to like about Matinpalo: He has good size at  6’3″, 212 lbs. He skates well and competes hard for the puck. While not an offensive player, he is a capable player with the puck on his stick. He’s also just 26 years old, and has only 45 NHL games under his belt. In that sense, there is still room for potential growth. Lastly, he and Kleven showed themselves to be a solid duo, giving the Senators a quality bottom pair on the back-end.

It’s hard to find much to dislike here for the Senators. This is a short term, low cap hit contract for a depth defenseman that showed himself well in his bottom pairing role this season. I’m not sure about Matinpalo having a ton of upside as he plays a fairly safe game and doesn’t offer a ton of physicality, but he’s not being paid to be more than a six/seven defenseman given the new contract. It was a couple of summers ago that Travis Hamonic was given a two year, low money contract. It looks as though his time with the Senators is now over with Matinpalo taking over as the right shot d-man on that type of contract. All in all, a solid start to the offseason for the Senators.