Player Discussion Mike Matheson

[Estimated_Prophet]

Savard is a RHD

I got myself turned into a pretzel there.....thank you!

 

[salbutera]

Matheson’s game is where Petry’s was when acquired in 2015… ironically roughly same age as well.

 

[Tyson]

Got no issues adding this player. He will be a good addition to help mentor the younger players.

 

[expy]

Another West Islander.

Howpfully pans out better than Leblanc for us!

 

[jrom]

It will be interesting to see if any/some/all of Barron, Guhle and Harris make the team. If Edmundson goes to the right then Guhle and Harris will be competing for a spot behind Savard and Matheson with Schueneman.

Maybe Harris moves to the right where he played at Northeastern......

Does not seem ideal but there is still alot of time. I have to wonder if Hughes doesn't try to move Savard for a RHD with a similar contract.

It’s probably wishful thinking but Edmunson is from Manitoba and having won a cup already maybe he’s open to playing / re-signing in WPG.

Maybe him + Dvorak is a stronger basis for that potential PLD trade…

I don’t know about losing Poehling. I’ll need to think about it more. But Petry was gone. Everyone in the league knew Habs hands were tied. I’m happy we get a D Matheson’s caliber to put in his place.

probably that this season, $750k of cap was worth more then Poehling.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Totally a younger lower case Petry.

You beat me to it. He’s basically where Petry was at age 28. It checks out

Similar size and both skate well. Not matured fully in his own end but making progression, starting to put more and more points with more usage and trust from the coach

Go look at when Petry started to show his top potential. It was around age 28

 

[MarioLeMoose]

Watching his highlights he looks like a Petry clone out there. My initial reaction to the trade was disappointment, but I’m definitely willing to give this guy a chance.
Welcome to the club Mike.

 

[Ezpz]

I think people are remembering quotes about Matheson when he was a joke four years ago and basing their opinion on that.

He's improved a lot and could be a good piece for us. His metrics aren't bad and he played behind Letang so never got real offensive opportunities. He will get Pp1 here cause we have no options.

 

[SwiftyHab]

I got myself turned into a pretzel there.....thank you!

Seems like Matheson and Savard are set up to bring the other young D along. I don’t see them both playing together.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

C'est formidable ! c'est formidable ! c'est formidable ! c'est formidable ! c'est formidable ! c'est formidable !

 

[SlafySZN]

I think people are remembering quotes about Matheson when he was a joke four years ago and basing their opinion on that.

He's improved a lot and could be a good piece for us. His metrics aren't bad and he played behind Letang so never got real offensive opportunities. He will get Pp1 here cause we have no options.

Wideman exist

Lol

 

[MarkovsKnee]

An article on Matheson largely built from Hughes press conference.

Hughes on Matheson: 'Mike is a five-star human being'

 

[BenG]

Another West Islander.

Howpfully pans out better than Leblanc for us!

Nice to get another gars de chez nous to get to play for the hometown team!

 

[McGees]

Hughes:
“He has some abilities where he’s really at the top of the league, his ability to generate offence off the blue line, which I think we certainly can benefit from. His skating allows him both to transport the puck or just be more aggressive defensively. I think we saw it with Brett Kulak, who was also a good skater. Under Marty, there was an uptick in Brett’s game relative to what it was before. I think we’re going to see the same in Mike Matheson.”

The next Brett Kulak #confirmed

 

[Dharvey08]

I like him he is a good second pairing dmen and will surprise a lot of people here.

People seems to forget that Petry’a best season offensively before coming to Montreal was 27 points.

In the right role he could put up 40-45 points.

Anyway we are tanking and he is still young for a dman still has a good 5 years left.

 

[Kojo]

I heard that he's fun to watch but was heavily sheltered in PIT, could lead to disaster if he's exposed. Perfect fit for us.

 

[Saku K]

Wideman exist

Lol

Wideman will be the 6th-7th defenseman and I doubt he will get to play on the first wave of the powerplay again even tough he had a good finish to the season. How many goals on the powerplay for wideman? Zero. Not so much of an option on a healthy roster.

As far as Matheson goes, I still have memories of bad defensive plays for his Florida days. He was much better on Pittsburgh and can play on the first wave of the PP in Montreal but would be more suited for the second. He is 28, in the prime of his career, at lower cost than Petry and basically replaces him in his role as a second pairing defenseman while being younger.

 

[Natey]

Lol Poehling Petry Matheson all on the ice when MM scored versus Montreal

 

[Krett Bulak]

Lol Poehling Petry Matheson all on the ice when MM scored versus Montreal

Man! He has a great shot and the guy can skate !

 

[NORiculous]

I heard that he's fun to watch but was heavily sheltered in PIT, could lead to disaster if he's exposed. Perfect fit for us.

Yeah I’ve been looking up on him and he was sheltered a bit, not sure why he was sheltered though. At least he seriously drove possession so he should be able to face tougher opposition.
In 20-21 he faced decent opposition and has able to decently drive possession.

So I think there is enough data to support that he doesn’t need to be sheltered and can be a useful piece to the Habs. But since I don’t know why he was sheltered in 21-22, I don’t know yet if something changed from his previous years.

Looking back even further,

In 17-18 while playing for Flo he had a good year facing decently tough opposition for a young guy and drove possession.

In 18-19 I think his year was very decent. Faced tougher opposition then 17-18 and was able to hold his own. Good season but nothing special.

19-20 something happened since he again held he own but this time against much weaker opposition. I would not calll it sheltered minutes but there is clearly a big difference in toughness of opposition (Much easier) with his previous year… and what could be concerning is that he wasn’t better.

Not sure why or what happened for his game to go south like that. It was still passable but the decline is easy to see.

So he gets traded has a good year and then we know that in 21-22 he had easier minutes and like I previously said, he seriously drove possession.

So he is inconsistent in the way he has been used. Most of the time when he faced tougher opposition, he responds well. But some years when facing easier opposition he doesn’t get better.

Will see what he bring but I’d definitely start him off with tough opposition because that is when he seems at his best, but that are just numbers and I don’t have enough of all the circumstances to put them into perspective.

 

[NotProkofievian]

I like him he is a good second pairing dmen and will surprise a lot of people here.

People seems to forget that Petry’a best season offensively before coming to Montreal was 27 points.

In the right role he could put up 40-45 points.

Anyway we are tanking and he is still young for a dman still has a good 5 years left.

I agree. He's a great skater and puck mover, and perhaps most importantly, we got a lot younger and cheaper. In 3 years Mike will be 31 with 1 year left on his contract. His contract will either be easy to move or it may even have a lot of value if he has a Petry-like revival in Montreal. We may even want to keep him.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...hopefully he'll progress as a player while helping the tank with his Petry-like defensive brainfarts...a win-win...

 

[JianYang]

Hughes represented him, must think highly of him.

He definitely does. He just described him as the kind of guy you want your daughter to marry.

 

[GrandBison]

...hopefully he'll progress as a player while helping the tank with his Petry-like defensive brainfarts...a win-win...

28 is still young for defensemen, and often when they actually start learning defense. If he doesn't progress, well, what we have is already a 4.9M$ defenseman, if you look at the market.

 

[BLONG7]

Watching his highlights he looks like a Petry clone out there. My initial reaction to the trade was disappointment, but I’m definitely willing to give this guy a chance.
Welcome to the club Mike.

A younger Petry, who makes less money.....and from Montreal to boot.....seriously guys, we did want some cap space, we got it and have a Dman to help with the kids on the back end.