Player Discussion Mike Matheson

He's playing the same average ice time as defenders like Seider, Josi, Heiskanen. He's 9th in the league for ice time by D. He's not in that tier of player obviously but this is what happens when bad teams have to put guys in positions that are above their paygrade.

Other GMs aren't as dumb as the fans, he still has trade value. He's been terrible lately but he's playing vs other top lines which he shouldn't be and playing way too many minutes. If he get's put into a team where he can play sheltered minutes on a 2nd pair he will look better. He's only 31 and still an elite skater.

He has no place on this team going forward though. Now that Lane has proven himself to be an elite puck moving defenseman at the NHL level, you can move on from Matheson and surround Lane with big stay at home guys. Still, Matheson played valuable mintutes the past 3 seasons for the team and played in way over his head for his entire stay here. Playing number 1 minutes on a rebuilding team for a guy making under 5 million dollars, I don't know what people were expecting.
If he plays 2nd pairing minutes he makes the same mistakes but in less ice time. He's not making mistakes out of exhaustion or fatigue, he's making them because he has a very low hockey IQ, especially compared to his tools and what he feels he can accomplish with them.
 
If he plays 2nd pairing minutes he makes the same mistakes but in less ice time. He's not making mistakes out of exhaustion or fatigue, he's making them because he has a very low hockey IQ, especially compared to his tools and what he feels he can accomplish with them.
He reminds me of Petry where Petry would make brain farts too but when he was on a 2nd pair behind Weber the mistakes didn't hurt as much because he was on the ice vs worst competition. Obviously Petry was better defensively but he had the same lapses in judgement or just lacked some IQ.

Matheson during his time here has either had to play first pair minutes or he's been paired with rookies when he's the guy that needs a steady partner. I still think he can be a very effective # 4 on a team with a more seasoned D core.
 
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It's the no-brainers that make me mad. Savard and MM . Savard has lost all his value, and for what? The more MM players, the more his value plummets. Honestly Barron lost all his value after his first year here, he should have been dumped at the draft a while ago.

Yes the Kulak trade was nice, so was TT and Chiarot
and we forgot getting a 2nd for Monahan, re-signing him after an injury filled year, then trading him way before the deadline to make sure he got a 1st before his value went down. Then using the 1st to get Hage. That was nice. Though I would have then tried to sign Monahan in the summer to a higher cap hit than Columbus gave him for 1 or 2 years less in term.
 
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It's the no-brainers that make me mad. Savard and MM . Savard has lost all his value, and for what? The more MM players, the more his value plummets. Honestly Barron lost all his value after his first year here, he should have been dumped at the draft a while ago.

Yes the Kulak trade was nice, so was TT and Chiarot
This teams 53% young core wouldn’t be getting this late season meaningful game experience without Matheson eating the 25 TOI & Savard’s PK contributions
 
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This teams 53% young core wouldn’t be getting this late season meaningful game experience without Matheson eating the 25 TOI & Savard’s PK contributions

That isn't a great reason to keep a guy who was washed up last year in Savard. MM has 'some value' , but it will drop a lot after this year
 
That isn't a great reason to keep a guy who was washed up last year in Savard. MM has 'some value' , but it will drop a lot after this year
Why? Think GMs only look at offensive production as fans seem to?

What about the fact Matheson’s “grown his game”, 25TOI playing all the difficult minutes for his team like a 1D does?

If anything this year has increased Matheson’s market value
 
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Why? Think GMs only look at offensive production as fans seem to?

What about the fact Matheson’s “grown his game”, 25TOI playing all the difficult minutes for his team like a 1D does?

If anything this year has increased Matheson’s market value

He is so bad away from the puck and is prone to turnovers, not a guy you want out there at a crucial time or defending a lead. I'm not saying he doesn't have value, but I don't see it as high as last year, do you?
 
He is so bad away from the puck and is prone to turnovers, not a guy you want out there at a crucial time or defending a lead. I'm not saying he doesn't have value, but I don't see it as high as last year, do you?
Yet this “so bad” Dman has been playing 25TOI on a team many said would pick top-5 and now challenging for wildcard spot.

As for value I suggest reading:

 
Makes some brain dead plays and that’s a shame because he’s an otherwise really good blueliner.

Takes too much abuse. He’s been good for us. But his time has come to an end. Need to move on from him in the offseason. He absolutely can help some other team but we just don’t have a spot anymore.
 
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He will go a stretch of games where he plays within himself, uses his elite skating to defend well and transition onto offense.

Then he will have a stretch, like this, where he's actively helping the other team with horrendous passes and decisions.

Yeah, I'm not sure what is going on with him but he's playing some bad hockey right now. It almost seems mental with some of the effort and decisions he's making.

Thankfully Guhle is back and he won't play as much.

He needs to be moved in the offseason.
 
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Re-signing Matheson would be my first real blow to my confidence in Hughes.

Every other move he's made so far I can at least get the logic behind it, even if it didn't pan out the way it should have (Dach trade, Newhook trade, Barron for Lehkonen, etc).

Re-signing Matheson at a raised price when he

a) doesn't play PP anymore
b) is way too risky with the puck and brutal defensively
c) We have multiple younger/cheaper guys waiting/coming

I wouldn't get or be on board with that at all.
 
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