After acquiring defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders shortly before the start of free agency, the Montreal Canadiens solidified the top four of their defensive core for the foreseeable future. Montreal has Dobson and Kaiden Guhle signed to long-term contracts, is one year away from having the option to do the same with phenom Lane Hutson, and has former fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher waiting in the wings.
With the need for ample salary cap space to sign Hutson next offseason, speculation has arisen that the Canadiens might consider trading blue liner Mike Matheson for center help or allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, it doesn’t appear that the organization believes they have to lose Matheson, nor do they want to.
In a new interview with James Murphy of RG Media, Montreal’s Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, Jeff Gorton, spoke highly of Matheson, saying, “If you look at Mike’s body of work since he came to Montreal, he’s been a really good player. So, sure, he takes criticism once in a while, but he might play upwards of 25 minutes a game sometimes, right? He’s been huge right now, and we all realize that. So, there are no decisions made on Mike right now. Obviously, he’s got a year left on his contract, but he’s been a very, very, solid player for us. He’s a very good penalty killer; he plays against the best players every night, and there’s not much he doesn’t do.”
There’s plenty of truth to Gorton’s vote of confidence. After scoring 138 points in 417 games through the first seven years of his career between the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Matheson has become a legitimate top-four defenseman in Montreal, scoring 25 goals and 127 points in 210 contests, averaging 25:07 of ice time per game.
Matheson leaves something to be desired in his underlying metrics as he’s averaged a 45.6% CorsiFor% at even strength and 89.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength since coming to Montreal. Still, it’s important to note that, like Gorton said, Matheson typically lines up against the opposing team’s top forwards, giving more context to those numbers.
The 10-year veteran will assuredly seek a healthy increase on his $4.875MM salary next offseason, especially with the upper limit of the salary cap continuing to rise. Thankfully, even with the pending contract for Hutson, the Canadiens should have the financial flexibility to extend him if they desire. Including Matheson’s expiring contract, Montreal has another $19.2MM coming off the books next summer from Patrik Laine’s and Carey Price’s contracts, although the latter has been stashed on LTIR for several years.
Still, if the Canadiens truly want to keep Matheson beyond the 2025-26 campaign, it serves as something they’ll want to get completed sooner rather than later. With more teams looking to become competitive and with more available dollars floating around, Matheson could get a premier payday on the open market next summer, and there are certainly other teams that may be willing to outspend Montreal for his services.
Pretty amazing how much damage Ron Hextall did to us in such a relatively short period of time.
Matheson for Petry. That actually happened.
Matheson like many D sucked in PIT
Letang eats up all the minutes for a decade +
There was never any path for Matheson to play over 18mins in PIT
Thats how he succeeds , on volume with more chances then he got Pre-MTL
Most NHL teams have a Letang.
MTL lost ours 25+ minute guy and had a void.
IF Matheson stayed in PIT he woulda stayed the same lack luster player.
That is unless you grew up and finally traded Letang
But instead y’all doubled down on old players which is an issue 10/10 on the back end.
Doesnt matter if it was Dubas, Hextal or your next failed GM, its Mario Lemieux handcuffing every GM the walks in by refusing to sell any off his Core 3 to build.
Mario handcuffing the GM is the issue.
Noted.
I no longer try to pour water into cups with no bottoms.
That all sounds great until you consider that Mario & Burkle sold controlling interest in the team in 2021 and Matheson was traded for Petry in 2022.
Fenway instructed Hextall to stay the course and compete when they took over. He butchered things. They told Dubas to clean up his mess, compete, and rebuild at the same time. That went about as expected.
Fenway has done such a bang-up job since taking controlling ownership that there are reports Mario & Burkle may buy controlling interest back.
if I remember right, Matheson in Pittsburgh was roughly the same as he was in Florida. He only got better after he went to Montreal. If you want to blame someone, blame Rutherford, he’s the one that acquired him in the first place. Rutherford made a lot of bad deals at the end of his time in Pitt.
Matheson actually played quite well in 2022 as a Pen after a rocky 2021. Still overpaid for the mid/bottom pairing D-man they were using him as, but still.
But yeah, questionable addition to begin with. Rutherford made some puzzling moves on his way out. That being one of them.
But Hextall took lemons and made…toilet wine?
My gut says this is a way to extract more value from an average second pair D man .
Everytime I hear an announcer say his name I hear Mathesar, from Galaxy Quest.
Sure, he’s the perfect bridge to the young guys this year and the only way to upgrade the 2c is likely to pair dach with a pick.
Odds are Matheson, Dach and a 1st to SEA for McCann and Okeksiak 50% RS
They have the Cap and the need
They take an upgrade on Defense along with Dach and 1st for McCann
McCann isnt a Center but he makes untested Centers capable of making the jump.
Newhook would receive a big enough boost to help Evans slot into 2C or Demidov has been saying he wants to play Center so there’s also that option if McCann’s here.
We have like 3 Great 4th Center options in Laval
Florian Xhekaj, Jared Davidson and Beck are all good options who play a constant checking style that fits teh 4th line mold.
Dach can’t stay healthy, he’s like Chytil, worth almost nothing. Seattle is looking for a good player.