The Montreal Canadiens will be without a key defenseman for their game against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight, as the club announced that blueliner Mike Matheson is out with a day-to-day injury.
While Matheson may not have quite the same high profile as former New York Islanders star Noah Dobson or reigning Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson, he’s in the conversation as the Canadiens’ most important defenseman on a consistent nightly basis. Matheson currently leads the Canadiens in average ice time per game, playing nearly a full two minutes more than Hutson. (24:54 to 23:06)
Matheson averages so many minutes despite barely factoring into the Canadiens’ power play plans.
While Matheson was once the team’s top-unit power play quarterback (a role he played successfully, scoring 62 points in 2023-24), the additions of Dobson and Hutson have cost him that role. As a result, Matheson has shifted into a more defensive role, and now he leads the club in short-handed ice time per game, averaging 4:10 on the penalty kill each night.
Matheson spends more time per game killing penalties than any other defenseman in the Eastern Conference, and every other blueliner in the NHL besides Dallas Stars defensive anchor Esa Lindell.
The former Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman’s ability to endure a massive workload isn’t a new development. Matheson ranked No. 7 in the NHL in time on ice per game among defensemen in 2024-25, and No. 3 in the NHL in 2023-24. He currently sits No. 10 in the NHL in that same metric this season.
In other words, since arriving in Montreal, Matheson has become an invaluable do-it-all defenseman for the Canadiens, someone head coach Martin St. Louis relies upon heavily in just about every kind of on-ice situation.
Of course, Matheson has drawn some criticism at times for being mistake-prone, and he does have some forgettable moments. But the Canadiens rewarded him with a $6MM AAV contract extension that will carry him through his age-37 season for a reason, and that’s precisely why his injury and absence tonight is so significant for the Canadiens.
Thankfully for Montreal, it appears Matheson’s injury is relatively minor, and will only keep him sidelined for a few days at most. But while he is injured, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens fill Matheson’s minutes.
They are already the NHL’s youngest team by a decent margin, and their already inexperienced blueline only becomes even more inexperienced without Matheson. And now, as a result of this injury, that blueline has approximately 25 minutes of ice time and, on average, four minutes of short-handed ice time to fill.
Photos courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
How can Marty leave Matheson out for over 4 minutes when you are up by 3 goals?