News/views: Maatta’s miserable season ends

by • Coverage •

Toronto Maple Leafs v Pittsburgh Penguins

Olli Maatta passes the puck in a Nov. 26 game against the Maple Leafs at Consol. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: Olli Maatta’s shoulder will undergo surgery Wednesday, ending his season, the Penguins announced minutes after the Tuesday game against the Wild.

Views: Man, what else could have gone wrong for the kid?

Maatta’s 20th birthday came in August, and it was accompanied by a hard push through training camp to overcome his May shoulder surgery, then the thyroid cancer that cost him a month, then the mumps, and now a second surgery on the same shoulder. As Sidney Crosby and others have noted, he’s tough, and he’ll have to be. This will be a lot of time away from doing what he loves, and that can make any of us a little loopy. What’s more, he’ll come back to the next camp with lingering questions about the stability of the shoulder.

There will be another question, too: Was Maatta allowed to return too soon?

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