Player Discussion Mike Matheson

[Saundies]

Too much brain farts. And it's not only last night.

His mistakes stick out like a sore thumb because they are more frequent and egregious than normal mistakes.

Not taking a guy in front of the net on a tip shot or a missed assignment is a common mistake (he makes plenty of these too, btw). I could potentially forgive these (to a point). Every D makes them.

Trying to take 4 guys on 1 on 4 on the PK, giving guys breakaways at the opposite blueline, trying to dangle through the slot in our own end when you're the last guy back, etc. are head scratcher plays because they are literally the antithesis of good defense. Matheson seems to make 2-3 of these a night.

There was a stretch of hockey when we were winning and playing well after the 4 nations that he played well. I didn't notice him out there in these as much. It's like either someone talked to him or he talked to himself.

Recently though.. it's been a tire fire yet again.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

I really don't see a need for Matheson moving forward. Hell, ideally we won't even need Carrier playing 2nd pairing minutes after this season.

Hopefully, and I know some of you disagree as far as Hutson on the right goes, but we can look something like this:

Guhle-Hutson
someone-Reinbacher
someone-Carrier

Those someones could be Xhekaj, Struble, Engstrom, or whomever else, as long as they aren't Matheson. I don't think with Matheson it's an issue of playing a lot of minutes=brainfarts, considering how many of them come so early in the game.

 

[Redux91]

You can tell when Matheson has had a bad stretch because the same media guys and r*dditors will come out saying he's our most reliable dman and who else will eat those minutes blablabla.

Playing a lot of minutes badly does not a good defenseman make.

It's infuriating lol

They are thinking the wrong way when it comes to this

It's not "well he's our most used D so obviously you gotta hang onto him! WHOS GONNA REPLACE THAT 25 MINS??"
We can acquire TONS of guys that can do that and probably look a LOT better defensively doing it

Matheson is an offense guy, now being asked to be strictly defensive
And his 'effort' is making a lot of people go "see how good he's doing out there! Not bad for an offensive defenseman!" Despite being a minus player, critical turn overs that lead to penalties or goals against, and not a great playmaker really

Not realizing I can get a strictly defensive guy with some mobility, give him 20 of those 25 minutes
And we'd all be RAVING about this defensive stalwart doing his job, and most likely doing it way better than the 'offensive D matheson'

And if people think 'well then just GET that Dfensive D anyway AND keep Mike for offense' well guess WHAT lol

He's already been replaced in that department.
Basically he has no chair anymore

And people will say to that 'I disagree! 25 mins a game!' And it's just.. stop
He's sitting in a chair that shouldn't exist
When we go back to the REAL D system and not just playing 1 D 30 mins a game pretending he is just SO invaluable because some of the guys are a little young
We're gonna be SO much better off FFS

 

[morhilane]

I can't wait for the playoffs where he plays 30+ minutes every games.
All 4 of them.

 

[Redux91]

I can't wait for the playoffs where he plays 30+ minutes every games.
All 4 of them.

Whatever gets him outta here sooner honestly

 

[Mrb1p]

Lets not forget Matheson was absolutely dreadful for the Pens in the POs. His pairing with Letang was 4-9 in 21-22.

I expect a Leafs pairing to be at the top of this list, not a Habs one. Were not a Mickey Mouse franchise.

 

[morhilane]

Whatever gets him outta here sooner honestly

Can you imagine next season without Savard and Matheson? I can already see MSL play Carrier/Guhle the entire PK time...

 

[Redux91]

Can you imagine next season without Savard and Matheson? I can already see MSL play Carrier/Guhle the entire PK time...

And they'll be GREAT but we're getting someone else this summer too

 

[tnq]

I really don't see a need for Matheson moving forward. Hell, ideally we won't even need Carrier playing 2nd pairing minutes after this season.

Hopefully, and I know some of you disagree as far as Hutson on the right goes, but we can look something like this:

Guhle-Hutson
someone-Reinbacher
someone-Carrier

Those someones could be Xhekaj, Struble, Engstrom, or whomever else, as long as they aren't Matheson. I don't think with Matheson it's an issue of playing a lot of minutes=brainfarts, considering how many of them come so early in the game.

I can not imagine to replace a 22 min player by someone. If someone is that good, you can replace Lane Hutson with domeone too

 

[Mrb1p]

Its gotta be stickied to stop the fake news BS.

-Matheson plays less at 5v5 than all three of Hutson, Guhle and Carrier;

-Matheson plays easier minutes than Carrier and Guhle QoC wise;

-Matheson plays easier minutes than Guhle and Carrier deployment wise;

-Matheson plays less shifts at 5v5 than all three of our best defenders. This means that he gets hemmed in his zone more often than not, leading to longer shifts (and less) shifts on average;

We gotta stop with this stupid excuse. He plays bad because he is bad.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

I can not imagine to replace a 22 min player by someone. If someone is that good, you can replace Lane Hutson with domeone too

Why does it matter how much time he gets if he doesn't do it well? Maybe on the 3rd pairing you can get him to simplify his game and play well but he's just not a smart player and it shows. His on-ice impact is terrible by any metric you use.

 

[Miller Time]

He is, although it's a legitimate question whether it's wise to re-sign him through his mid 30's, or it would be better to cash in this offseason.

Our defense is leaky and out of our top 3 of Hutson, Guhle and Matheson the latter seems to be the obvious candidate to improve upon.

Agreed.

With our droth at LD, it's quite reasonable that we dont re-sign him unless he takes a significant hometown discount, unless we've offloaded some of Xhekaj/Strubble/Engstrom by this time next year in moves for upgrades elsewhere. Not unlike Armia/Dvorak/Savard, I could see the team keeping him through next year's deadline and playoffs even at the risk of him walking depending on how our season and playoff chase is going.

I do wonder what he'll look like (assuming he isn't moved this summer - which i'd say is a pretty solid possibility) if we start next year with him in the LD3 slot behind Guhle & Hutson... assuming we've added a top-4 RD. Would he embrace a move to 19-20min/night the way Dvorak/Gally/Anderson have embraced their bottom-6 deployment? I suspect a lot of the issues fans are rightfully frustrated by would be diminished greatly if he weren't trying to do as much on a nightly basis and Matheson strikes me as a smart enough hockey player to be able to adapt and embrace a more conservative approach if that's what the team needs.

Either way, he's a valuable asset on-ice for us for now and will continued to be leaned on heavily as this young group fights to secure an unexpected playoff spot. He deserves a lot of credit and appreciation for how much he's contributed to this quick rebuild and return to the brink of the playoffs.