Player Discussion Mike Matheson

[Gravity]

I'm sure the team that acquires him will be thrilled but we need more stability in the back for Hutson. Also not having a shinpad shooter would be great.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Hutson is a D. He's great as a D. He drives plays as a D. He'll remain a D.

Hutson to forward has gotta be one of the worst ideas on this forum.

 

[Miller Time]

Having himself another very good season...

Easily one of the best value veteran contracts in the league.

 

[26Mats]

Having himself another very good season...

Easily one of the best value veteran contracts in the league.

It seems he still bobbles the puck away to opponents, just at times that don't lead to scoring chances, which is great.
Also, he tries to skate through multiple opposition players when there's very little chance of succeeding only rarely now.

In short, it seems he's simplified his game. Which is great. Perhaps being taken off the second wave of the pp has had him more focused on D and less focused on creating offense, even at the expense of D. Perhaps playing with Carrier, a player with high IQ for getting out of a defensive bind with the puck and moving it to the forwards, has rubbed off on him.

 

[Rapala]

He does deserve praise and he has been excellent.

Marty talked about players accepting their roles last night when discussing Anderson.
He could very easily have been talking about Mike Matheson.
I like MM when he's not "The Man" but a part of the clan.

 

[Scriptor]

Marty talked about players accepting their roles last night when discussing Anderson.
He could very easily have been talking about Mike Matheson.
I like MM when he's not "The Man" but a part of the clan.

Keeping Matheson for three or four more years beyond his current contract (ages 32, 33, 34 and, maybe, 35) would provide four to five years with a competent, minute-munching, 2nd pairing LHD that can play RD in a pinch, all on a value contract coming in at less than what Guhle will be making starting next season.

It would also provide Hughes with the potential to trade Guhle straight up for a young 2C, leaving us the other future assets (picks and prospects, near the NHL and further from the NHL).

I really like Guhle and honestly believe he is a glue guy for the team, both on D and up front, because of his standing on this team, his work ethic and leadership qualities. However, if you want a young C that can contribute at a high level immediately, you will have to sacrifice a similarly aged player from the backend and sacrifice a player that can also contribute at a high level immediately.

I doubt that Matheson gets you that young C, for example, but Matheson can help weather losing Guhle, however.

 

[habbubba]

Having himself another very good season...

Easily one of the best value veteran contracts in the league.

Shhh,don't say that or every team will want him.

 

[Sam I Am]

Keeping Matheson for three or four more years beyond his current contract (ages 32, 33, 34 and, maybe, 35) would provide four to five years with a competent, minute-munching, 2nd pairing LHD that can play RD in a pinch, all on a value contract coming in at less than what Guhle will be making starting next season.

It would also provide Hughes with the potential to trade Guhle straight up for a young 2C, leaving us the other future assets (picks and prospects, near the NHL and further from the NHL).

I really like Guhle and honestly believe he is a glue guy for the team, both on D and up front, because of his standing on this team, his work ethic and leadership qualities. However, if you want a young C that can contribute at a high level immediately, you will have to sacrifice a similarly aged player from the backend and sacrifice a player that can also contribute at a high level immediately.

I doubt that Matheson gets you that young C, for example, but Matheson can help weather losing Guhle, however.

Guhle is the trading chip we may have to play to get young, real-deal 2C. LD is our strong suit and he's the one that could land us the biggest (and youngest) fish.

But it may be that among Hage, Beck, Kapanen, Demidov and our 2025 first-rounders we may have a future top 6 centerman ot two. In that case why not package MM and go for an older, stop gap solution. Something that will get us through the next couple of seasons and buy the time the young guns need to develop. Ryan O'Reilly comes to mind but I'm sure that there are other older centermen that are under contract for two or three more years.

Or we can take another run at Matt Duchesne. Overpay him for two years, maybe three.

 

[HabzSauce]

Guhle is the trading chip we may have to play to get young, real-deal 2C. LD is our strong suit and he's the one that could land us the biggest (and youngest) fish.

But it may be that among Hage, Beck, Kapanen, Demidov and our 2025 first-rounders we may have a future top 6 centerman ot two. In that case why not package MM and go for an older, stop gap solution. Something that will get us through the next couple of seasons and buy the time the young guns need to develop. Ryan O'Reilly comes to mind but I'm sure that there are other older centermen that are under contract for two or three more years.

Or we can take another run at Matt Duchesne. Overpay him for two years, maybe three.

Duchene would be my #1 choice this year, to serve as a stop gap until we can find a better more long term option in 2-3 years. I'm not that big on anyone for 2C right now. Bennett is interesting and there some off the board names like Thompson. But not much else

I Have feeling Duchene will re-up with Dallas tho. He will take less to stay

 

[MtlSars]

Yeah .... no. I can't believe I feel a need to intervene and put an end to this ludicrous suggestion but trading Guhle to retain a 31 years old Matheson even if he were to remain at his current caphit (which is doubtful since he had 62 pts last year) is just not how you want to build our defense moving forward.

The man skates well and is a fine 2nd pairing D when not leaned on as much as we have, and should fetch a 1st easily next year or packaged into a substantial move. Guhle is already a better defensemen and is only is his 3rd year... you don't trade him away for 2 years of aging O'reilly...to retain the lesser option.

Mourn him now cause he's the one that needs to go...

 

[Ezpz]

His answer about not getting upset about PP1 shows he's got pretty strong character. I think it's worth exploring keeping him at the right price and term. Matheson as your #4 or #5 D is a luxury and Hutson and Guhle have already passed him. If Reinbacher pans out we're in a good spot. Carrier Xhekaj is a decent rounding out. Struble if he can continue to be as good as he has been on the right side makes Carrier expendable long term.

The only thing is Matheson and Carrier are likely competing for the same spot except Carrier is already signed to a low cap and is a natural RD instead of a forced one. Xhekaj is fairly important for vibe reasons. He essentially neutered the Sens the last time we faced them. That's important in playoff hockey to have a guy who can eat some minutes and beat the crap out of every player in the league except a few scrubs on non-playoff teams.

That's why Columbus gave Olivier an absurd contract knowing full well he's having a career season with horrible advanced stats and high luck. At the very worst he skates on their fourth line, doesn't hurt them, and deals with the rats of the league. I have a feeling we would have signed Olivier and traded Xhekaj if the cards were lined properly.

I don't think Mailloux ever supplants Matheson. He's just not smart as a person and player. He's a bottom pair PP option, not sure if that role is necessary here with Hutson. I don't think Engstrom is a prospect you gut your top 4 for either.

I know many want to just insert youth into every single position but Hughes kept Andy for a reason and it's paying off, and kept Gally instead of buying him out. The team has no business being in the race this late but the vets are stepping up (finally). We all talked shit but Dvo and Armia are contributing a lot more than the 7th round picks they would have fetched a month ago. Imagine saying Christian Dvorak would greatly contribute to handing us 4 points in 3 games a month ago.

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Since the trade deadline, the vets are really stepping up to be the depth scoring they're supposed to be.

Matheson in particular has changed his game a ton this season after it became clear Hutson was the new big boi in town. He's become more responsible defensively and I feel like with his skating he could contribute a lot for the next 3-4 years at least. I wouldn't oppose giving him the Petry contract who was a similar age/importance when many wanted to trade him. Only for us to go the finals with him as the 1D.

After everyone took team friendly deals I can't imagine Mike wouldn't. I would say at this point our forwards have a lot more question marks, why add one to our D for uncertainty in Mailloux/Engstrom/excepting no regression from Struble, Hutson or Xhekaj. Savard is already retiring so we're losing important vet guidance this summer no matter what. Savard was very good for helping out both Hutson and Xhekaj. We also don't know if Guhle is going to stay healthy (I know his injuries were mostly flukes but injuries sometimes have lasting symptoms).

Anyways I'd be looking to upgrade the second line long before dumping Matheson. The only guy I don't expect to take a team friendly deal is Demidov, which is a further-down-the-road problem. The sad part is Colorado traded a third of the return for Newhook straight up for Ross Colton who's simply better one-to-one. But Dach and Newhook can't really be penciled into the second line next year if we want to compete. They're both competing for the same spots on the third line at this point but are certainly behind Gally/Andy. I almost expect one of them to be traded this summer; probably Newhook since he fails the eye test, the advanced stats metrics, and is regressing without any reason. Dach at least was a beast the first year here and looked like he was going to have a huge breakout before getting injured.

Keep Matheson question mark maybe

 

[The Great Weal]

The guy is a ridiculous athlete and while I respect him trying to adjust his game to be more defensively sound so Hutson can have the spotlight offensively, we should be getting a more defensively competent RHD that just makes the simple play.

 

[Archijerej]

Canadiens thrive with an atypical shutdown pairing of Mike Matheson and Alexandre Carrier

 

[Sorinth]

The guy is a ridiculous athlete and while I respect him trying to adjust his game to be more defensively sound so Hutson can have the spotlight offensively, we should be getting a more defensively competent RHD that just makes the simple play.

Matheson is good defensively. He's almost certainly the best defensive player we have playing right now.

Also given that Guhle and Reinbacher are both expected to be guys who are defensively sound and make simple plays it seems odd that we would want another in that mold. An offensive guy who is solid defensvely like Matheson is a much better complement to our D core. Age and Handness might mean Matheson becomes the odd one out but it has noting to do with Matheson's defensive competency.

 

[Mrb1p]

Yeah .... no. I can't believe I feel a need to intervene and put an end to this ludicrous suggestion but trading Guhle to retain a 31 years old Matheson even if he were to remain at his current caphit (which is doubtful since he had 62 pts last year) is just not how you want to build our defense moving forward.

The man skates well and is a fine 2nd pairing D when not leaned on as much as we have, and should fetch a 1st easily next year or packaged into a substantial move. Guhle is already a better defensemen and is only is his 3rd year... you don't trade him away for 2 years of aging O'reilly...to retain the lesser option.

Mourn him now cause he's the one that needs to go...

This is how dangerous media opinion can be. And this is true in all aspects of the world, not just sports.

Its clear as day that the media, and Hughes, want MM to stay. I think Guhle is sadly the odd man out, and like Romanov and Sergachev, well see him be a top pair D for a decade.

 

[Shutdown]

This is how dangerous media opinion can be. And this is true in all aspects of the world, not just sports.

Its clear as day that the media, and Hughes, want MM to stay. I think Guhle is sadly the odd man out, and like Romanov and Sergachev, well see him be a top pair D for a decade.

i think you're being a little doom and gloom for nothing. what part of this makes you think they're keeping Mike Matheson ahead of Guhle?



"we have other decisions to make coming up, like Mike Matheson's been a very important part of our team. we have good young players coming up - the balance between the future and the present - in that case, we'd like to continue to upgrade our talent mix, particularly in the top 6"

 

[Mrb1p]

i think you're being a little doom and gloom for nothing. what part of this makes you think they're keeping Mike Matheson ahead of Guhle?



"we have other decisions to make coming up, like Mike Matheson's been a very important part of our team. we have good young players coming up - the balance between the future and the present - in that case, we'd like to continue to upgrade our talent mix, particularly in the top 6"

What doesnt make you think of this in all that has been said and the narrative around Matheson in the media? Have you heard any rumblings? Have you heard any criticism? The Habs propaganda machine is second only to the Russian one, theyre good at it. Its clear as day that the narrative is controlled on MM.

 

[Shutdown]

What doesnt make you think of this in all that has been said and the narrative around Matheson in the media? Have you heard any rumblings? Have you heard any criticism? The Habs propaganda machine is second only to the Russian one, theyre good at it. Its clear as day that the narrative is controlled on MM.

i think the GM insinuating that we'd move on from him to get younger and better trumps any perceived media agenda

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Are we ok with Matheson staying if its on a hometown discount? He's pretty good as long as the puck isn't on his stick .

Realistically moving on is probably the right move , I wish he was a righty

 

[le_sean]

He has to leave. I can’t stand this shit anymore. He’ll have one 9/10 game and follow it up with three 2/10 games. Hutson, Guhle, Xhekaj, Struble. The left side is fine. Get rid of him and get a solid RD.

 

[Mrb1p]

Are we ok with Matheson staying if its on a hometown discount? He's pretty good as long as the puck isn't on his stick .

Realistically moving on is probably the right move , I wish he was a righty

I hope that last game was a good answer