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What’s In Store For Canadiens’ Matheson This Season
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- What’s In Store For Canadiens’ Matheson This Season
In the last two seasons, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson has lost his spot on the team's power-play unit. Two years ago, Lane Hutson pushed him down to the second unit, and last year, Noah Dobson made him surplus to requirements by taking on the second-unit duties. Martin St-Louis turned the Pointe-Claire native into a penalty-killing specialist, a role that the blueliner took pride in. In 2025-26, he was on the ice for 77.1% of the team's shorthanded minutes, which is enormous. Jake Evans is second on the team, having spent 60% of the team's penalty kill on the ice.
The blueliner has easily led the team in ice time, spending an average of 24:10 on the ice. Nobody else has spent as much time on the ice; Hutson was second with 23:46, and Dobson was third with 22:29. Matheson will be playing the first year of his new 5-year contract extension, which will see him earn a very reasonable $6 M and for the next three years, he has a full no-movement clause. The fact that he is the only Hab with that kind of clause says a lot about how important he is to the organization.
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While some fans would have you believe that Matheson is a turnover machine, it's important to note that the numbers say otherwise, or at least prove that he isn't the worst player on the team in that department. When you look at takeovers, Dobson leads with 95, followed by Matheson at 94 and Hutson at 93. However, when looking at giveaways per 60 minutes, he's actually 11th on the team with 3.0; that's better than Jayden Struble (3.8), Zachary Bolduc (3.7), Ivan Demidov (3.4), Juraj Slafkovsky (3.2) and Dobson (3.2), to name a few. As for Hutson, he's at 2.9.
Until the Canadiens get a solid stay-at-home defenseman, you can fully expect Matheson to be a minutes-muncher for the Habs. At even strength and on the PK, he's a fixture for Montreal, and he has St-Louis' trust, which is not likely to change. In short, you can expect more of the same from the blueliner. He will remain the coach's go-to guy in every situation except the power play and will stay an important part of the leadership group. At 32.4 years old, he's the second-oldest player on the team and will be expected to lead by example.
While Matheson's value is no longer mainly about his point production, he remains an important secondary scoring source and put up 37 points last season after a 31-point season back in 2024-25. Expect him to stay in the same 35-40 point range this year as the young Habs mature and improve in all aspects of the game; opportunities to score at even strength will improve as well.
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