Going into his second full season with the Arizona Coyotes, Matias Maccelli looks to build upon his strong rookie campaign.
One of the bright spots for the Arizona Coyotes this past season was the play of forward Matias Maccelli.
Maccelli had an excellent rookie campaign tallying a total of 11 goals, 38 assists and 49 points in 64 games.
The strong point of Maccelli’s game is clearly his ability to distribute the puck, ranking second amongst the rest of the Coyotes team in assists only behind Clayton Keller.
The 22-year-old has the skills to become a reliable goalscorer but really focused on facilitating the puck as a rookie. However, Maccelli is trying to push himself to shoot more this season as he is being encouraged by all of his teammates to do just that.
“It’s my second year and guys in the league know what I’m trying to do, passing the puck always,” Maccelli said. “So definitely now, I got to start shooting a little more. They’re not maybe expecting that so it's a good addition to my game for sure.”
Despite being selected in the fourth round back in the 2019 NHL Draft, Maccelli has overcome all the odds and is now one of the Coyotes most promising young forwards with the potential to do big things in the NHL.
Going into his second full year with the Coyotes, Maccelli is feeling better all around both mentally and physically.
“Now I have played one year so I'm going out there mentally more than I was last year,” Maccelli said. “Last year, I was maybe a little nervous from time to time and stuff like that, but this year I can just focus on playing and focus on helping the team to win.”
With great play comes higher expectation which Maccelli is more than prepared for as he looks to continue to grow his game.
“Second year, like I said, I gotta be better,” Maccelli said. “Again, I gotta do whatever I can for the team and I think I've done the right things this summer to where I can do that this year.”