In today’s rendition of 32 Thoughts with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (and later shared by Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune), the longtime insider mentioned a forward that hadn’t previously been believed to be a part of any trade discussions. The player in question is Utah Hockey Club’s Matias Maccelli, who’s in his fourth professional season.
During the podcast, Friedman was quoted saying, “Maccelli in Utah. He’s been scratched a bit lately. Was scratched Sunday night too against Vancouver. That’s one to watch.” His play this season has invoked questions regarding his future with the organization but Utah would ultimately be selling low on Maccelli should they move him now.
There’s no question he’s had a disappointing campaign. After scoring 28 goals and 78 assists in 146 games with the Arizona Coyotes from 2022 to 2024, Maccelli’s scoring has dropped to eight goals and 10 assists in 52 games this season. That point production equates to a 0.37 decrease in points per game compared to years past and his offensive production isn’t the only worry in his game.
His average time on ice has dropped by slightly more than two minutes this season and his sub-10% shooting percentage is the lowest since his rookie campaign. His on-ice save percentage at even strength has fallen from a career-high 91.5% in 2022-23 to 88.9% this year. One of the only categories of Maccelli’s game not to see a number go down is his giveaways which have risen by 14.4% per game.
Those numbers don’t paint a pretty picture. Still, given he’s only one year removed from tallying 40 assists over a full season, several teams would likely be interested in his services as a potential bounce-back option.
If Utah is considering seriously trading Maccelli, they would be better served by waiting until next year’s deadline. He’s signed to a modest $3.425MM salary through next season and the team isn’t positioned to start clearing salary from the roster. Should Maccelli’s playmaking abilities again come alive during the 2025-26 season, Utah could move him then for a bigger haul before he becomes a restricted free agent for the second time in his career.
So does Friedman hear these rumors and bring them to light? Or does he just speculate, And make them up? Either way, He’s as useless as a movie critic.
Elliotte may speculate a lot, and throws things he may be hearing out, but he usually says a team is looking at a “player like _____.” And hacks like EK from hockeybuzz come out and say things like I am hearing team a and b are looking at this player. 9999 times out of 10000 they’re both wrong, but EF is usually in the right ballpark. EK just makes stuff up for hits. PHR just reports what they caught on the interwebs and offer opinions, not what they heard themselves. Elliotte has sources and reports on what he has been told from those people. EK makes stuff up and claims he has sources that tell him the exact names of players and teams. PHR relays what they find around the web and source it into 1 site to make the rumor finding easier. EF isn’t here to defend your liking or disliking of his suggestions. But at least he has a modicum of success in his calls. He may not be 100%, but he’s in the right direction more times than not. Better than most. None of the real insiders bat 200 let alone 1000.