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Michael Matheson

Trade Deadline Notes: Ward, McDonagh, Oduya, Plekanec

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The San Jose Sharks are playing both buyer and seller at this year’s trade deadline. The Sharks are currently second in the Pacific Division, looking to hold off the Ducks, Kings, and Flames, and are known to be looking for scoring help up front. They have been attached to names like Evander Kane, Rick Nash, and really most high-profile forwards on the market. At the same time, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the team has requested a no-trade list from veteran forward Joel Ward. Ward, 37, is an impending free agent who has fallen out of favor in the San Jose lineup. He has a six-team no-trade list that he can use to slightly reduce the number of possible destinations, should he be traded. Ward has played in only 46 games this season, with just 11 points to show for it, but more importantly, has seen his once-valued penalty kill role diminished, along with his even strength ice time. Ward can still be an asset for many teams as both an experienced locker room presence and reliable two-way depth option, but he’s worth much more to another contender than the defense-conscious Sharks. A trade is far from a certainty, but is a definite possibility now that a list has been officially requested.

  • An unexpected suitor has entered the bidding for New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh. Sportsnet’s John Shannon believes that the Florida Panthers have interest in the top-pairing defenseman. Going up against divisional foes like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins, as well as many others, the Panthers will try make the top offer for McDonagh, as the Rangers continue their fire sale. The Panthers are still fighting for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference this season, and McDonagh would be a major help with that, but more likely the motivation for the Cats is to bring in McDonagh for next season and with the intent of extending him. PHR recently identified a top-four defenseman as a need for the Panthers going forward, and McDonagh would round out quite the top four in Florida with Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, and Michael Matheson.
  • Count both Johnny Oduya and Tomas Plekanec as the latest big-name players being held out of lineups tonight prior to the deadline. Dreger says that Oduya’s benching is just precautionary, but that the Ottawa Senators are working on trading the veteran defenseman as part of their own fire sale. The news of Plekanec, from TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, comes after a report yesterday that the Montreal Canadiens have received an influx of interest in the veteran center over the last 24 hours. Both players are expected to be moved in the coming days.

Deadline Primer: Florida Panthers

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With the trade deadline fast approaching, we will be taking a closer look at the situation for each team.  Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?  Next up is a look at the Florida Panthers.

The Florida Panthers are in a difficult situation with the NHL Trade Deadline fast approaching. Few truly consider the team to be a playoff contender, but the fact of the matter is they are not that far out from a postseason spot. Florida currently sits in 12th in the Eastern Conference and nowhere close to an Atlantic Division berth, which admittedly is an uninspiring scenario. However, trailing the New York Islanders by eight points with a whopping six games in hand, the Panthers don’t need an unrealistic stretch to catch up. Yet, what is problematic is their upcoming slate of games leading up to the trade deadline, in which they play four games, all of which are against bona fide playoff teams. An 0-4 result this week would not be much of a surprise, but could deter GM Dale Tallon from continuing to pursue a playoff berth. At the same time, a positive result against strong competition could instill hope in the team and urge them to make a deal to improve the roster. The Panthers’ deadline role is still very much up in the air.

Record

25-23-6, 4th in the Atlantic Division

Deadline Status

To be determined

Deadline Cap Space

$33,124,940 in deadline cap space
41/50 contracts per CapFriendly

Draft Picks

2018: FLA 1st, ARI 2nd, FLA 3rd, VGK 4th, FLA 5th, FLA 6th, FLA 7th
2019: FLA 1st, FLA 2nd, FLA 3rd, FLA 4th, FLA 5th, FLA 6th, FLA 7th

Trade Chips

The Panthers may not be buyers at the 2018 deadline, depending on their next few games, but can they really be “sellers” in the traditional sense? Florida has just two impending unrestricted free agents with any value: veteran forward Radim Vrbata and AHL import goalie Harri Sateri. Neither player will net Florida much at the deadline, as neither is more than a luxury depth addition, rather than a difference-making acquisition. The team decided to move forward with an extension for Colton Sceviour, who otherwise might have drawn ample deadline attention. What remains is a roster that offers little to contenders. However, where the Panthers could make a move is trading away players with term for other players with term, rather than participating in the rental market. While they may be happy to move the likes of Jamie McGinn or Derek MacKenzie, the Panthers will have to deal value for value if pursuing some of the bigger available targets. Defenseman Alex Petrovic, a restricted free agent this summer, appears destined to leave Florida sooner rather than later, while young forwards Denis Malgin, Maxim Mamin, and Dryden Hunt and rookie defenseman Ian McCoshen will surely be in demand.

The Panthers don’t have much in the way of prospect depth, especially on defense, so may be hesitant to deal away too many draft picks or their high-value picks, including a potential lottery pick this season. Henrik Borgstrom is a near untouchable, and could even make his NHL debut this season if the Panthers are in the hunt, whereas 2017 first-rounder Owen Tippett is definitely a non-starter. Adam Mascherin or Aleksi Heponiemi won’t enjoy the same protections and could be moved in the right deal.

Players To Watch: F Radim Vrbata, G Harri Sateri, D Alex Petrovic, F Connor Brickley, F Denis Malgin

Team Needs

1) Top-six winger with term

The only reason the Panthers would move any of the aforementioned young players is to bring in a long-term asset. Tallon and company have made it known they are looking for a top-six winger to round out a really strong top-six group. With names like Mike Hoffman, Max Pacioretty, Mats Zuccarello and more reportedly available, Florida is one team willing to make a major deal in-season to acquire such a name. A young roster player, prospect, and draft pick could be enough to land one of these experienced scorers, which will serve the Panthers this season and beyond.

2) Starting defenseman with term

Interestingly, the Panthers’ main focus appears to be at forward when the team actually scores at a decent clip, but struggles to prevent goals against. Florida is very attached to Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, and the recently-extended Michael Matheson, and for good reason; the trio have been excellent this season. The other half of the defense corps has been less impressive and both Petrovic and Mackenzie Weegar don’t seem to be long-term fits. The Cats could surely benefit from adding another body on the blue line that has a some years remaining on their contract. Such a deal could easily be made in free agency or on the summer trade market, but if the right player at the right price becomes available – such as an Oscar Klefbom for example – the Panthers will be interested.

3) Draft picks

At the end of the day, with their playoff chances caught in limbo and no desperation to make major deals, the most likely deadline strategy for Florida will be to simply trade away impending free agents or other expendable pieces for the best draft picks they can get. The cupboard is basically bare when it comes to defensive depth in the pipeline. A great quantity of picks in the next draft or two should help to rebuild the system on the back end as well as at other positions.

Frustration Growing For Panthers’ Alex Petrovic

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It wasn’t long ago that the Florida Panthers were working toward a long-term extension with defenseman Alex Petrovic. Coming off the best season of his young career in 2015-16, the then-24-year-old looked like he was blossoming into an elite two-way defenseman. Injuries struck last season, but Petrovic nonetheless saw increased ice time and an uptick in both offensive and defensive per-game numbers. He was rewarded by being protected in this summer’s Expansion Draft.

Yet, today the team’s position on Petrovic has changed and he’s taking notice. While Petrovic and the Panthers avoided arbitration with a one-year extension this summer, he’s had to sit back and watch fellow blue liners with less time spent in Florida sign long-term deals in Mark Pysyk and Michael Matheson. Now he’s watching the likes of Ian McCoshen and MacKenzie Weegar take his ice time away too. Petrovic has been a healthy scratch in nine of the Panthers’ 20 games this season and, as he tells the Miami Sun-Sentinal’s Matthew DeFranks, he’s sick of it.

“I think (the coaches) just don’t have the confidence in me when I’m out there to keep (making me a healthy scratch) for some reason,” Petrovic said. “I couldn’t tell you why. It is what it is. I just got to keep proving myself every day.” DeFranks describes Petrovic’s scratches as unusual, as the determined defender tends to watch games from the ground level rather than the press box and works out during period breaks. No amount of effort or showing of dedication seems to make a differences though; Petrovic hasn’t suited up since November 9th and “lines of communication between him and the coaching staff have evaporated”, DeFranks writes.

New Florida head coach Bob Boughner has done his best to de-emphasize the issues between he and his staff and Petrovic, but sooner or later the Panthers are either going to have to start playing their homegrown product or trade him away. Petrovic has shown a commitment to being in the lineup and, when active, has the numbers to prove improvement of the past two seasons. Teams will line up to get a young, physical defenseman on an upward trend offensively and defensively. GM Dale Tallon simply needs to decide whether he wants to take advantage of that value or keep that asset to himself, and he needs to decide soon.

Snapshots: Matheson, Vlasic, Hanzal, Luongo

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Michael Matheson’s eight-year, $39MM contract extension with the Panthers last month caught many by surprise.  He is the least-experienced player to receive a max-term deal and his is the cheapest by $7MM.  Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated reports that the eight-year contract wasn’t even on the mind of the team when they first approached him about an early extension as GM Dale Tallon proposed both a bridge deal and a longer-termed one of five or six years in length.  Instead, Matheson’s camp preferred to look for eight years, something that Tallon and the Panthers were clearly amenable to.  Despite their confidence in him, Matheson has struggled out of the gate this season with just one assist through 12 games while his ATOI is down by over two minutes a night but his new contract doesn’t get underway until 2018-19.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Still with Florida, despite participating in practice this week, Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo remains listed as week-to-week, notes Matthew DeFranks of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The veteran has missed the last six games with a right-hand injury while James Reimer and recently-claimed Antti Niemi have struggled lately in his absence.
  • Although Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer was initially very optimistic about defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic not needing to miss too much time due to a head injury, Paul Gackle of the Mercury News notes that the bench boss chose his words a bit more carefully on Friday. While he’s still hopeful that Vlasic won’t be out long, he did acknowledge that these injuries can be prone to setbacks.  The blueliner was injured on Wednesday night against Nashville and did not skate either Thursday or Friday.
  • Dallas center Martin Hanzal, who has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, will miss at least the next two games as well, head coach Ken Hitchcock told Mark Stepneski of the Stars’ team website. As Gavin noted earlier, Hanzal has not started well with his new team after signing a three-year, $14.25MM contract early in free agency as he has just a lone goal through 11 games in the early going of the season.  The team is targeting November 10th as a potential return date.

Michael Matheson Signs Long-Term Extension With Florida

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5:53 PM: It’s a done deal. Less than an hour after Friedman’s report, TSN’s Bob McKenzie has confirmed that Matheson and the Panthers have come to terms on an eight-year, $39MM contract extension. The deal, worth $4.875MM per year, would make Matheson the fifth-highest paid player for Florida and a top-fifty paid defenseman in the league if the 2018-19 season were underway. The extension puts Matheson in the same salary zone as players like Sami Vatanen, Justin Faulk, and Morgan Rielly.

The contract breaks down as follows, per CapFriendly:

2018-19: $3MM salary, $500K signing bonus
2019-20: $3.5MM salary
2020-21: $3.5MM salary
2021-22: $5MM salary
2022-23: $4MM salary
2023-24: $4MM salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2024-25: $4MM salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2025-26: $4.5MM salary, $2MM signing bonus

5:15 PM: According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, the Florida Panthers are working toward an eight-year extension in the neighborhood of $40MM with one of their defenseman. Keep in mind Aaron Ekblad already signed an extension last year and 2017-18 marks the first season of his eight-year, $60MM, while Keith Yandle is already on to year two of his seven-year, $44.5MM free agent contract from last summer. No, the star Florida defenseman that Friedman is reporting on is… Michael Matheson?

To be fair, Matheson did play in 81 games with the Panthers last season and led the team in even-strength ice time on ice. However, those 81 games were only good enough to be tied for second among Florida defenseman and he ranked third in overall average time on ice. Matheson scored 17 points, tied for fourth among Panthers’ blue liners, and his 69 hits was fifth among that group. Matheson led the team with 118 blocked shots, but that mark put him only 70th in the NHL. This was all while the Panthers endured a disappointing season and missed the playoffs after winning the Atlantic Division the year before. Matheson is a solid defenseman, but he didn’t really excel at anything in particular in 2016-17 and didn’t necessarily help the team win. When it comes to a long-term extension though, consistency is the key and Matheson has been this good for a long time, right? Except, last year was his rookie season. Matheson has been a name in hockey for years now – a first-round pick in 2012 and a prolific career at powerhouse Boston College – but in reality he has just 84 NHL games under his belt and is just one year removed from a season spent almost entirely in the AHL.

So, why is GM Dale Tallon reportedly throwing this kind of money at him? Why could Matheson soon be paid more and for longer than the likes of Roman Josi and John Klingberg after just one alright NHL season? It could be that Panthers, who admittedly have seen more of Matheson than anyone else, see something more from the 23-year-old. Of course, it could also be, that after trading away Jason Demers, this extension is the result of some panic setting in. Ekblad is coming off a down season with some lingering injury concerns, Yandle is on the wrong side of 30, and Mark Pysyk and Alex Petrovic tend to be one-dimensional players. With Ekblad, Pysyk, and Petrovic all young, right-handed rearguards, that side of the defense could be set for the long haul, even if there are some concerns. However, on the left side, Matheson and Yandle are the only two established NHLers on the roster with nearly no high-end defensive prospects in the system. It seems likely that Florida sees Matheson as a worthy gamble because he is all they have to gamble on. Is that worth upwards of $40MM? Maybe not, but at least waiting until later in the season to gauge Matheson’s development could help to alleviate some of the risk. (Update: They didn’t.)

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