Arizona Coyotes winger Matias Maccelli proving his rookie season was no fluke

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Arizona Coyotes winger Matias Maccelli proving his rookie season was no fluke
Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Matias Maccelli finished fourth in voting last season for the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the National Hockey League’s top rookie.

Matty Beniers, Stuart Skinner, and Owen Power all finished ahead of the Arizona Coyotes winger, who had a strong case of his own but lost points with voters because he missed 18 games with an injury.

But now, just over six months later, it’s Maccelli who leads that pack of players. While Beniers, Skinner, and Power have all struggled to replicate their rookie performances as sophomores, Maccelli has built on the promise he showed last year — and it’s a big part of why the Coyotes are currently in the playoff picture.

A relatively unheralded fourth-round pick of the Coyotes back in 2019, Maccelli took off upon joining Ilves in the Finnish Liiga immediately after being drafted and carried over that success into the AHL with the Tucson Roadrunners in 2021–22. He also appeared in his first 23 NHL games with the Coyotes that year.

Then, in 2022–23, Maccelli seized a full-time spot with the ‘Yotes out of camp and took full advantage of the trust bestowed upon him by head coach André Tourigny, leading all rookies with 38 assists despite only playing in 64 games. Beniers averaged 0.71 points per game as a rookie with the Seattle Kraken; Maccelli managed 0.77.

Skepticism has naturally followed Maccelli around. He’s a sub-6′ winger without much edge to his game. He isn’t the fastest skater out there. And compared to the likes of Power and Beniers, who respectively went No. 1 and 2 overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, Maccelli was an afterthought in his own draft year.

With the sole exception of the Columbus Blue Jackets, every single team passed on Maccelli — most of them multiple times. By now, it’s glaringly apparent it was everyone else’s loss.

This season, Maccelli has been a model of consistency for a Coyotes team that very much has not been. Before their current four-game winning streak, Arizona had lost four in a row; immediately before that, the Coyotes had won five consecutive games against the last five Stanley Cup champions. Talk about a rollercoaster ride.

Maccelli has scored a point in three of four games during the Coyotes’ current run, but he also had a point in all four of the losses before that. He’s a lean, not-so-mean, point-producing machine who makes zone entries and intricate set-ups look routine.

Despite wearing a full protective bubble for the last few weeks as a result of a facial injury he sustained in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets back in November, Maccelli hasn’t missed a single beat over that span. The 22-year-old winger is second to Clayton Keller on Arizona’s scoring leaderboard with 24 points (six goals, 18 assists) in 32 games. He was promoted to the Coyotes’ top power-play unit for their game against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Known primarily for his sublime passing ability, Maccelli has learned to become slightly less deferential to his teammates as a sophomore. He’s certainly striking a better balance between playmaking and shooting. After managing just 61 shots on goal in 64 games last year, Maccelli already has 67 in 32 with the Coyotes to start 2023–24.

When Maccelli wants to, he can really fire the puck. It’s just a matter of when the young Finn deems it the right play to make.

The Coyotes have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises of the 2023–24 season thus far, currently occupying the final playoff spot in the Western Conference by virtue of their 17–13–2 record.

Maccelli has played an enormous role in that success. Arizona is no longer a one-line team; Maccelli, Lawson Crouse, and Nick Bjugstad have formed a secondary unit that ranks among the league’s best. All three players already have at least 20 points in 32 games this season.

Even without incumbent No. 1 center Barrett Hayton in the lineup, the Coyotes have kept trucking along. Part of that has to do with Alex Kerfoot picking up the slack on the top line. But more of it is due to the emergence of Maccelli not just as a plucky upstart, but as someone who can push Keller and make a legitimate case for being the team’s best player on many nights.

For the last number of years, Keller has been the Coyotes’ representative at the NHL All-Star Game basically by default. He’s been the elite player on that roster. But now, Maccelli is right there. It’s no coincidence that Bjugstad and Crouse are both on pace for their first-ever 50-point seasons with him driving their line.

With Maccelli on the ice at 5-on-5 this season, the Coyotes have generated 100 high-danger scoring chances and allowed just 83. Via Natural Stat Trick, that’s the second-best differential on the team, behind only Jack McBain (who has missed half the season to date).

And yet, even though he ranks second in team scoring, Maccelli has one of the lowest on-ice shooting percentages on the Coyotes. The ‘Yotes have scored on just 8.45 percent of their shots with Maccelli on the ice at 5-on-5, way down from the team average of 10.20 percent. Whereas most of the Coyotes roster has enjoyed pretty favorable shooting luck this year, Maccelli’s hasn’t been anywhere out of the ordinary. This just is who he is: a high-end producer.

Over the summer, the Coyotes signed Maccelli to a three-year extension. His deal carries a $3.425 million cap hit, a proper bargain for the value he provides. He’s far closer to Clayton Keller, who makes a team-high $7.15 million per season. But the Coyotes certainly won’t be complaining about Maccelli being underpaid for the next two-and-a-half seasons, after which he’ll be an RFA again.

In the meantime, the Coyotes have their sights on returning to the playoffs for only the second time since their run to the 2012 Western Conference Final. Maccelli’s skillset is very similar to that of Ray Whitney, who led that 2012 Coyotes team in scoring and was nicknamed “The Wizard” for his terrific playmaking ability.

The Coyotes’ unique home-ice advantage has been called “Mullett Magic”. Who better to conjure up some magic than another Wizard?

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