The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman Nicolas Mattinen to a one-year, two-way contract, the club announced Sunday afternoon.
Mattinen, 26, was named the DEL Player of the Year for the 2023-24 season after leading the Straubing Tigers with 16 goals and 46 points in 52 games. The 6’5″ right-handed defender added a goal and seven points in 12 playoff contests with the Tigers.
The Maple Leafs originally selected Mattinen in the sixth round (No. 179 overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. His two-way contract will take effect in the 2024-25 season.
Although the Maple Leafs’ exclusive draft signing rights to Mattinen expired all the way back in 2018, the club eventually circled back under new GM Brad Treliving and has now signed the Ottawa-born defenseman to his first NHL contract nearly eight full years after he was drafted.
The Maple Leafs drafted Mattinen in the same year they picked Auston Matthews first overall. Mattinen played with the OHL’s London Knights in his draft year and also suited up for the Flint Firebirds, Hamilton Bulldogs, and Oshawa Generals during his junior career.
After going unsigned by the Maple Leafs, Mattinen joined the University of Ottawa GeeGees for the 2019-20 season. He collected 13 goals and 28 points in 42 games over two seasons at UOttawa before turning pro with the AHL’s Laval Rocket for eight games at the end of the 2021-22 season.
From there, Mattinen embarked on a career in Europe. He spent the 2022-23 season with the Austrian club Villacher SV in the ICEHL before arriving in the German city of Straubing, where he enjoyed a fantastic 2023-24 campaign with the DEL’s Tigers.
The Maple Leafs originally selected 11 players back in the 2016 NHL Draft. Of that group, six have gone on to play in the NHL: Matthews, Egor Korshkov, Carl Grundstrom, Joseph Woll, Adam Brooks, and Keaton Middleton. Mattinen now has a chance to become the seventh.
With just two games remaining in their 2023-24 regular season schedule, the Maple Leafs currently rank third in the Atlantic Division with a 46-24-10 record and 102 points.
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