When the Montreal Canadiens locked up Mike Matheson on a 5-year extension last November, it wasn’t just a move to keep a veteran defenseman around. It was a message about what this team wants to be.
Matheson, 32, has become one of those players a young team leans on in more ways than one. He brings leadership, sure, but the bigger point is how willingly he’s adapted as the Canadiens’ blue line has changed around him.
He arrived and quickly took over as the top power-play quarterback, and he handled that job well. Then Lane Hutson emerged as the better fit for that role, and Matheson slid down to the second unit.
Not long after that, Montreal added Noah Dobson, a right-shot defenseman, former 12th overall pick and a player who has already posted 70 points in a season. Dobson took over the second power-play unit, and Matheson was pushed out of that offensive lane altogether.
Plenty of players would have bristled at losing those chances. Matheson didn’t.
Instead, he accepted the shift and turned himself into a penalty kill specialist, a role he embraced fully and performed well in. As he put it:
“That kind of boils down to ego, right? Would that bother you because you’re not getting as many points?
And if that’s the case, like why does that actually matter? Is there a way that you can find value elsewhere in your game where you’re kind of being an important part of the team, but maybe it’s not scoring goals?
And so that’s what I tried to do: he’s so special at what he does, and he’s way better than me at it. So like, who am I to kind of fight that, right?
He’s obviously bringing a lot to the table on that side of the puck to drive success for our team, and so my job is to find a different way to drive success for the team and be an important part of the team.”
That attitude matters in a league where offensive production drives a lot of the money for defensemen. Matheson knew what giving up those power-play minutes could mean for his earning power, but he wasn’t chasing the biggest payday. He was chasing a chance to win, and he bought into what the Canadiens are building.
That’s also why the extension made so much sense for Kent Hughes. Montreal now has a player who can fill several different jobs depending on what the team needs.
If Hutson or Dobson gets hurt, Matheson can move back into a more offensive role and handle it. If both are healthy, he can keep doing the less glamorous work that helps the team function.
That flexibility, along with the way he has handled every adjustment without making it about himself, is exactly why the Canadiens wanted him signed long term. With the 5-year deal carrying a $6 million cap hit, Matheson accepted less than he could have gotten had he reached unrestricted free agency this summer.
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