Matias Maccelli signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with the New York Islanders on Wednesday, according to TVA Sports insider Renaud Lavoie.
The move hands Peter DeBoer another body up front, and it lands as a show-me contract for a winger who's already worn a few different sweaters.
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Maccelli spent this past season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, posting 14 goals and 25 assists for 39 points across 71 games, but finished at minus-23.
Over his NHL career, the 25-year-old winger has produced 51 goals and 118 assists for 169 points in 295 games since Arizona drafted him 98th overall back in 2019.
The Islanders finished 43-34-5 a season ago, good for 91 points, but they limped out on a three-game skid and went just 3-7-0 over their final ten games.
Mathieu Darche has been reshaping this roster since taking over as general manager in May 2025. Does adding a 25-year-old with one big season on his resume actually fix anything up front?
Call this a garage-sale flier on scoring, not a top-six fix. At $2.25 million, DeBoer has zero reason to force it into the lineup if it flops.
Paul Cotter lands in Vancouver on a matching one-year bet
Cotter is making his own move on the same day. Elliotte Friedman reported the winger signed a one-year, $2.15 million deal with Vancouver on Wednesday.
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The 26-year-old winger spent this past season with the New Jersey Devils, scoring 9 goals and 6 assists for 15 points across 79 games, finishing at minus-24.
Career-wise, Cotter has put up 47 goals and 35 assists for 82 points in 296 NHL games since Vegas drafted him 115th overall back in 2018.
Vancouver finished dead last in the league at 25-49-8, and that minus-100 goal differential says everything about how far this rebuild still has to travel.
Manny Malhotra gets a 6-foot-2 winger to fill a bottom-six hole, something this Canucks group lacked badly on the wing all season long.
Two show-me deals landed within minutes of each other on Wednesday. Whether either winger survives training camp is the only question that actually matters now.
Is Matias Maccelli enough of a bet for the Islanders at $2.25 million?
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