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Getting to Know U-tah: Forward Matias Maccelli
Through training camp, ALLCITY Network will publish profiles of players and staff on the Utah Hockey Club’s hockey operations side to help Utah fans get to know their new team before the first puck drop on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center.
Matias Maccelli
Position: Forward
Height/weight: 5-11, 185
Shoots: Left
Age: 23
2023-24 stats: 82 games, 17 goals, 57 points
Career stats: 169 games, 29 goals, 112 points
Contract status: Signed through 2025-26 (AAV: $3.425 million)
Agent: Ian Pulver
Fiancée: Olivia Heinonen
Matias Maccelli is an anomaly. He is the only non-first-round pick from the John Chayka-Lindsay Hofford era who is with the NHL club. Aside from Aku Räty, he is the only one of those picks in Utah’s plans — or even with the organization any more.
Maccelli is clearly a key part of Utah’s future. The team signed the play-making forward to a three-year, $10.2 million contract in July 2023. The question on everyone’s mind is: What is Maccelli’s ceiling?
He opened some eyes around the league when he led all rookies with 38 assists in 2022-23 — although not enough eyes for voters to make him one of three finalists for the Calder Trophy (he came in fourth) despite finishing second in points among rookies.
After coach André Tourigny reminded him that, “You can’t sustain success in this league being a one-trick pony,” he executed a game plan of shooting the puck more last season, upping his shots on goal from 0.95 per game to 1.82 per game.
He had 17 goals last season, falling a little short of becoming the team’s seventh 20-goal scorer. So what did he focus on this offseason; most of which he spent in his native land of Finland?
“It was definitely my shot, or more like having a shooting mentality,” he said. “I spent a little more time on shooting pucks and then just thinking about scoring. Last season was a good step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of room to improve.”
Maccelli didn’t neglect the other aspects of his game. He wants to become a more complete player, and he still thinks there is more room for improvement with his passing game by simply getting more reps and experimenting with more plays. Even so, his vision and his ability to put pucks on sticks through traffic or over other sticks is what separates him from most NHL players.
“When Celli has the puck in the O-zone, he’s so good at protecting it and buying time for himself,” frequent linemate Lawson Crouse said. “When he’s doing that, I’m just trying to get lost and find open areas. There’s a time and place when you need to go to the net and stack bodies at the net and funnel pucks to the net, but there’s also times when you can get lost.
“The key is, I think, to have one person at the net and then Celli obviously finds you with a perfect pass.”
It’s not certain that Maccelli will be reunited with his running mate. Nick Bjugstad, the duo’s most frequent center, is expected to be out of the lineup until early November with an upper-body injury, and both wings bounced around a bit last season. But Maccelli said the duo has good chemistry.
“We’ve played a lot of games together so we kind of just know how each other plays,” he said. “[Crouser and Bjugy] kind of just let me do my thing, and I let them do their thing. It’s a good combo where everybody’s not trying to do everything and we kind of fulfill each other well.
“I’m not 100 percent sure what’s the plan, but it looks like we’re back together. It’s been great the last couple years and I think all of us kind of want to play with each other.”
Like most of his teammates, Maccelli is talking playoffs this season. The combination of maturing players, a fresh start in Utah, and the team’s offseason moves to add players such as Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino and Kevin Stenlund has removed many of the excuses the team had under less than ideal circumstances in Arizona.
Maccelli credited new owner Ryan Smith with providing the level of support that the players and coaches didn’t always feel in Arizona.
“It just shows how big of a difference it makes when you have that kind of guy as an owner,” Maccelli said. “You can just tell the difference in the locker room. There isn’t much complaining going around. Everything is pretty good.
“We don’t have to waste our energy thinking about what’s not right with the team, or what we need to feel better. Everything is in the right spot, and we’re moving in a really good direction.”
Related Maccelli links
Walkin’ and Talkin’ with Matias Maccelli
Analyzing what Matias Maccelli brings to table
Examining Calder Trophy case for Coyotes rookie forward Matias Maccelli 🤌
On Matias Maccelli’s late-season opportunity
Top photo of Matias Maccelli via Getty Images
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