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.