Penguins Confirm Olli Maata Has The Mumps
The Penguins confirmed this morning that defenseman Olli Maata has contracted the mumps.
Another one bites the dust.
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maata is the latest NHL player to contract the mumps virus.
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Good job, Crosby. You had to deny you had the mumps and be around the team, now you gave it to your teammate. He’s gone through enough this season already, he doesn’t need this.
Maata is just six weeks removed from undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid tumor from his neck. Following the surgery, he only sat out two weeks before returning to the lineup.
He may have to sit out that long again, and possibly longer, to recover from the mumps.
Maata is the third Penguins player to come down with the mumps this season. Forwards Sydney Crosby and Beau Bennett were the first two. Other Penguins players were also tested for the mumps after they became ill, such as defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, and goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Marc-Andre Fluery.
Their results came back negative for the virus, though.
The virus seems to be effecting players differently. Some players, after contracting the virus, have only sat out a few games to recover. Maata’s teammate Sydney Crosby missed only 3 games until he returned to the lineup.
For other players, it’s taken a few weeks to get over the illness. Being only 20, I think Maata has a good chance of it being the former rather than the latter. However, because of his health issues this season, doctors may want to play it safe with the young blue-liner.