Player Discussion Mike Matheson

[Scriptor]

Matheson was actually above average, defensively, last season, all on a crappy team to round out the year. He displayed a solid ability to back check and steal pucks away from opponents when doing that.

The mantra that he sucks defensively and only gets credit because of offense he creates while shirking defensive responsibilities makes it sound like those alluding to that didn't actually watch the player or the games played.

Matheson showed he could come into his own last season, after coming back from his injury, but he needs to repeat his production over a longer stretch to both show he can stay healthy and that it wasn't strictly a one-off over a smaller sample size.

 

[ZUKI]

Suzuki will be 24 years old the 10th of August. We are not going to be contenders for at least 5 seasons, so he will be a little bit to old at 29-30 Y.O. to fit with the core of the team.

Hugues really should try to get the max for him, as it is for Matheson, Anderson, Dvorak and Monahan. Habs won't be contenders with players over 28 years old in the team. Bunch of newbies, put that in your heads !

 

[Scriptor]

Suzuki will be 24 years old the 10th of August. We are not going to be contenders for at least 5 seasons, so he will be a little bit to old at 29-30 Y.O. to fit with the core of the team.

Hugues really should try to get the max for him, as it is for Matheson, Anderson, Dvorak and Monahan. Habs won't be contenders with players over 28 years old in the team. Bunch of newbies, put that in your heads !

Hopefully, this is sarcasm? Suzuki, in five years, will be 28, and signed for three years, through his 30th birthday year.

That should give three years of contending with Suzuki still in his prime (28, 29, 30), before deciding if we extend his contract into his thirties. That's where mistakes are made, basing the term and Cap hit of the contract on past performances. IMO, at that point, Suzuki, depending on his healthy of course, should not be signed for more than four years (31, 32, 33, 34), with a tacit agreement that he might be renewed a year at a time after that...

 

[ZUKI]

Hopefully, this is sarcasm? Suzuki, in five years, will be 28, and signed for three years, through his 30th birthday year.

That should give three years of contending with Suzuki still in his prime (28, 29, 30), before deciding if we extend his contract into his thirties. That's where mistakes are made, basing the term and Cap hit of the contract on past performances. IMO, at that point, Suzuki, depending on his healthy of course, should not be signed for more than four years (31, 32, 33, 34), with a tacit agreement that he might be renewed a year at a time after that...

Scriptor , see the little yellow face at the end of the text
of course it’s a sarcasm about how some fans talk about Matheson. Players up to 30 years old aren’t prohibited from being in a Cup run with their team. Matheson is an amazing skater, the kind of guy that can play older

 

[Scriptor]

Scriptor , see the little yellow face at the end of the text
of course it’s a sarcasm about how some fans talk about Matheson. Players up to 30 years old aren’t prohibited from being in a Cup run with their team. Matheson is an amazing skater, the kind of guy that can play older

The kind of player that ages well, yes.

The more I think about it, the more I would like to see Hutson sheltered as a 3rd pairing D that is a PP specialist or used as a top-4 D with O-zone starts depending on game situations.

My D-Corps, down the line, would be:

Matheson - Reinbacher
Guhle - Mailloux
Hutson - Engstrom
Xhekaj

Lots of sheltered offense with pairing partners and roles made for optimum offense and minimal goals against.

 

[JianYang]

Matheson looked really really good once he got in game shape last season.

That said, we also need to remember that the habs were a bottom team. I suspect teams playing against the habs did not give a full effort as they would with stronger teams. This may have created a favorable context for Matheson to produce and shine.

It's not meant to be a negative because I really like Matheson. Just taming my expectations.

I'm not sure what the expectation for him are exactly, but at the end of the day, thats two pretty good seasons in a row from matheson. One was on a playoff team, and the other a non playoff team.

I just think he's a player that the Habs caught at the right time. He's been peaking in the last couple seasons. He should have silenced the critics by now that his last season in Pittsburgh was not a flash in the pan.

 

[Andy]

I'm not sure what the expectation for him are exactly, but at the end of the day, thats two pretty good seasons in a row from matheson. One was on a playoff team, and the other a non playoff team.

I just think he's a player that the Habs caught at the right time. He's been peaking in the last couple seasons. He should have silenced the critics by now that his last season in Pittsburgh was not a flash in the pan.

That’s a good point.

 

[jrom]

Nice background article on Matheson who was visiting his old primary school in MTL.

In his last year there the students had a written assignement to project where they would be at age 30 e.g. in 2024. Matheson wrote that he hoped to be a Habs player...

Nothing really hockey related in the article but it's clear why Hugues was saying 5 star humain being and wanted him as a vet.

Le Canadien | Mike Matheson à quatre mois de réaliser sa prophétie

« Bienvenue à la maison ! » Mike Matheson est reçu comme un roi à l’école Marguerite-Bourgeoys en ce jeudi après-midi bien collant.

www.lapresse.ca

 

[HuGort]

Nice background article on Matheson who was visiting his old primary school in MTL.

In his last year there the students had a written assignement to project where they would be at age 30 e.g. in 2024. Matheson wrote that he hoped to be a Habs player...

Nothing really hockey related in the article but it's clear why Hugues was saying 5 star humain being and wanted him as a vet.

Le Canadien | Mike Matheson à quatre mois de réaliser sa prophétie

« Bienvenue à la maison ! » Mike Matheson est reçu comme un roi à l’école Marguerite-Bourgeoys en ce jeudi après-midi bien collant.

www.lapresse.ca

Good article. He'd definitely part of the culture

 

[Koivu11]

 

[Jaynki]

He is a 1D.

He is truly a number one defenseman.

He has a very big impact on the game.

He plays 25-28 minutes per game. Produce offensively, is all over the ice.

 

[Bee Holder]

Might be HuGo’s best trade so far

 

[Jaynki]

Might be HuGo’s best trade so far

AINEC

 

[Bee Holder]

AINEC

I mean, jury’s still out on the Monahan, Newhook and Dach trades as being their best move.

Monahan: fetching not only 1 but potentially two 1sts, for Nothing in return would be laughably amazing

Newhook: he’s been so impressive so far, who knows what his ceiling might be?

Dach: unfortunately, losing him (again) for the whole season blows, and makes his long-term value difficult to measure, but before the injury, he was our VERY BEST player and looked like he could eventually dethrone Suzy as our 1C. And we got him for freaking Romanov and magical beans

 

[Jaynki]

I mean, jury’s still out on the Monahan, Newhook and Dach trades as being their best move.

Monahan: fetching not only 1 but potentially two 1sts, for Nothing in return would be laughably amazing

Newhook: he’s been so impressive so far, who knows what his ceiling might be?

Dach: unfortunately, losing him (again) for the whole season blows, and makes his long-term value difficult to measure, but before the injury, he was our VERY BEST player and looked like he could eventually dethrone Suzy as our 1C. And we got him for freaking Romanov and magical beans

Well.

Monahan especially the CGY 2025 1st looks promising.

Dach injury affect the perception but acquiring such a center at 21YO is a miracle.

Its just that Matheson is a 1D, an invaluable piece. He was sleeping in Pittsburgh.

But yeah, its not as AINEC as i wrote

 

[Habssince89]

I've been frustrated with Matheson because he's had some really bad gaffes with the puck and has had some bad reads in the D zone, but I'm glad that as time has gone on the good side of him has shown, and the powerplay suddenly has a faintest sign of life.

He really is like Petry its too perfect that they were traded for one another. I think once our youngsters start to shoulder the load (so he doesn't have to play 28mins a game) he will look better and better. I'm ready to live with the imperfections because he's being asked to play above his station right now.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

He seems to be a very competitive guy and surprisingly plays at his best when he's giving a ton of minutes.

I'm scared that he'll end like Petry though, completely burnt out. There's no way in hell he's going to be able to play at this rate going into the 2nd half of the season.

Is our 3rd pairing really only going to play 12 minutes a night until Savard/Guhle comes back?!

 

[Gally11]

He seems to be a very competitive guy and surprisingly plays at his best when he's giving a ton of minutes.

I'm scared that he'll end like Petry though, completely burnt out. There's no way in hell he's going to be able to play at this rate going into the 2nd half of the season.

Is our 3rd pairing really only going to play 12 minutes a night until Savard/Guhle comes back?!

Well Guhle will be back shortly

 

[Kimota]

I've been frustrated with Matheson because he's had some really bad gaffes with the puck and has had some bad reads in the D zone, but I'm glad that as time has gone on the good side of him has shown, and the powerplay suddenly has a faintest sign of life.

He really is like Petry its too perfect that they were traded for one another. I think once our youngsters start to shoulder the load (so he doesn't have to play 28mins a game) he will look better and better. I'm ready to live with the imperfections because he's being asked to play above his station right now.

Because of his offensive talent but given that he is prone to gaffes, I actually would love to see him as a forward.

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

Might be HuGo’s best trade so far

This one is close, but hard to beat Monahan and first rounder for nothing.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

I mean, jury’s still out on the Monahan, Newhook and Dach trades as being their best move.

Monahan: fetching not only 1 but potentially two 1sts, for Nothing in return would be laughably amazing

Newhook: he’s been so impressive so far, who knows what his ceiling might be?

Dach: unfortunately, losing him (again) for the whole season blows, and makes his long-term value difficult to measure, but before the injury, he was our VERY BEST player and looked like he could eventually dethrone Suzy as our 1C. And we got him for freaking Romanov and magical beans

They’re four pretty great trades especially we gave up so little.

Hopefully Dach’s future isn’t hampered significantly by this season and/or this isn’t a recurring thing

 

[Le Tricolore]

Matheson will make some really great plays, but also often tries to do too much and messes up badly. He's fun to watch but certainly wouldn't be on a good team's top pairing.

 

[Jaynki]

Matheson will make some really great plays, but also often tries to do too much and messes up badly. He's fun to watch but certainly wouldn't be on a good team's top pairing.

I challenge you to find 30 defenseman that are better than Matheson !

 

[JianYang]

This one is close, but hard to beat Monahan and first rounder for nothing.

That monahan deal is also going to pay further dividends if he can somehow remain healthy. That should yield an interesting pick at the deadline.

 

[Le Tricolore]

I challenge you to find 30 defenseman that are better than Matheson !

Are you saying that there are 30 good teams in the NHL?