Are you trying to make a -11 differential at 5v5 for a 30 years old vet look good ?
No? I never said it was good, I said stop using +/- because I think it's dumb to use +/- and it's particularly bad for OFD on bad teams specifically because it includes garbage like SHG and empty nets. I don't think that 5v5 number is "good", but I don't think it's horrible either in the context of his usage on a 28th place team like the raw +/- would suggest.
Is giving up shorties a good thing now ? 6 goals at 5v4 and he also gave up a lot of goals at both 4v4 and 3v3.
Of course it's not a good thing, it's just something that will happen a handful of times to every team 82 and it creates a warping effect on +/- as it can not be counteracted by any positive contributions on the power play while the negatives in the form of SHGs which happen to every team a handful of times are locked in as minuses.
You can try to rationalize Mathesons +/- or just accept he isn't that good of a defender
I don't think Matheson is a particularly good defender. IMO he's an OK-mediocre defender in a 2nd pair role and overmatched to poor defensively as a top pair D. I never said he was a good defender either, I am saying that looking at +/- to say his -24 vs the next lowest -8 and say "it's pretty telling when the swing is that big" to imply he's a total sieve is a deeply flawed argument, because the swing is made up of junk like shorties and empty nets that have little to do with his 5v5 defensive ability.
Looking at Evolvinghockey for 5v5 Guhle is -11 and Matheson was -10 for instance. I do not think Matheson is equal or better defensively than Guhle either. Guhle is the superior defender and the gap will only widen with time. I bring it up to point out that the 5v5 numbers are nowhere close to the +/-, and that the swing in +/- is as meaningless as it was when it was Petry at -30 and Alzner was at -7 a season before he was banished to the AHL.
In broader terms I don't agree with your arguments that he's a DeAngelo/Gostisbehere pure PP merchant who's a bottom pair scrub other than point totals. I think he's a flawed but useful 2nd pair OFD and I'm not particularly concerned that he looks overmatched when deployed as a #1 to insulate younger players. If he's not traded, I hope that his usage ratchets down this year as I think Guhle/Xhekaj are ready to take on a bigger share of the top 4 minutes and I hope Hutson takes over as the main PP1 guy.
and we're probably better off focusing on the future rather than the rag-tag crew.
Maybe. I've said many times that I'm not really opposed to trading Matheson, I just don't share the same urgency to do it as others. I don't think his trade value is as high as the general consensus on this board, and I don't think it'll be much different at the 2025 or 2026 deadlines. Other teams understand his 60 points are a little smoke and mirrors, and nobody acquiring him would think he's a bonafide top pair D.
I just don't buy into the idea that there are going to be premium prospects/young players and top 15 picks on the table for Matheson that we're just stubbornly turning down. If those offers are actually available then by all means we should pounce ASAP, but I would expect his value is probably closer to a playoff team's 1st + some throw in C+/B- prospect, and I correspondingly don't share the same urgency to trade him RIGHT NOW at that valuation.