{"id":473325,"date":"2025-08-15T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=473325"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:36:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T23:36:15","slug":"value-of-montreal-canadiens-mike-matheson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/08\/15\/value-of-montreal-canadiens-mike-matheson\/","title":{"rendered":"Value of Montreal Canadiens’ Mike Matheson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Montreal Canadiens veteran defenceman Mike Matheson<\/a> is heading into the final year of his contract. Matheson was acquired by Montreal in 2022 through a trade that sent Jeff Petry<\/a> and Ryan Poehling<\/a> to Pittsburgh<\/a>. During his tenure with Montreal, Matheson has established himself as a top-four defenceman for the club. He registered a career year of over 60 points in the 2023-24 season. However, after adding Noah Dobson<\/a> to the fold, it\u2019s unclear where Matheson will fit into the lineup this season. Let\u2019s examine what Matheson\u2019s value is to the Montreal Canadiens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens Mike Matheson\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Matheson’s Value in a Limited Role<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Over the last several seasons, Matheson has been one of the most utilized blue-liners in the NHL. He has often been given well over twenty-five minutes a night. While he is a solid player, Matheson has been overused due to necessity and has often suffered because of it. He has become a whipping boy amongst the fanbase due to critical mistakes.<\/a> With the arrival of Lane Hutson<\/a> last year, as well as blue line additions in Noah Dobson<\/a> and Alexandre Carrier<\/a>, Matheson won\u2019t need to log the same minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unclear what Montreal\u2019s defensive lineup will look like, Hutson, Dobson, and Kaiden Guhle<\/a> will all be logging top-four minutes. We could also see prospect David Reinbacher join the fold this season. With players like Carrier, Arber Xhekaj<\/a>, and Jayden Struble<\/a> also on the roster, Matheson won\u2019t need to play big minutes for Montreal any longer. Hutson and Dobson will also be taking over power play duties, with Matheson likely falling out of the mix with the man advantage. With less responsibility, in a limited role, Mike Matheson could be a useful player for Montreal down the stretch this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Matheson Extension Versus What He Could Receive in Free Agency\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

A player of Matheson\u2019s caliber could fetch a raise from the current deal he is under, which sees him earning just under five million annually. However, it won\u2019t be the Canadiens that give him that raise. Despite the rising cap, Montreal just handed out a 9.5 million deal to Dobson. They will also need to extend Lane Hutson to a similar contract next off-season.<\/a> This means that the chances of keeping a big contract in Matheson, who will likely be on the third pair, are low.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defencemen are a premium on the open market, and with the cap going up significantly, Matheson could see a big payday. He should fetch anywhere from 5-7 million annually on a multi-year deal if he hits free agency next July.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Value on the\u00a0Trade Market<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite his value diminishing last season, Matheson could still hold significance on the trade market. If he were to be dangled in a trade, it would be to help improve the team\u2019s offence. Including him in a package along with picks and prospects could be enough to help acquire a middle-six forward, ideally a centre. Matheson has long been rumored to be a trade chip for Montreal, especially after the emergence of their young defence corps.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s unclear if a trade will end up materializing at this juncture. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Matheson Will Likely Finish Contract with Canadiens\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trade rumors have swirled around Matheson throughout the off-season. However, chances are that we will see him finish his contract with Montreal. If the Canadiens are in playoff contention at the deadline, Kent Hughes will be hesitant to subtract from his roster, similar to what we saw this past season. Therefore, a trade would make more sense to occur this off-season. However, with the summer winding down, it\u2019s more than likely that Mike Matheson will remain a Montreal Canadien.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: David Kirouac- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montreal Canadiens veteran defenceman Mike Matheson is heading into the final year of his contract. Matheson was acquired by Montreal in 2022 through a trade that sent Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling to Pittsburgh. During his tenure with Montreal, Matheson has established himself as a top-four defenceman for the club. He registered a career year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":470034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4547,4548],"tags":[7648,7095,4153,269,4472,7307,1354,2718],"class_list":["post-473325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadiens","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-arber-xhekaj","tag-david-reinbacher","tag-jayden-struble","tag-jeff-petry","tag-kaiden-guhle","tag-lane-hutson","tag-michael-matheson","tag-noah-dobson"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473325"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473337,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473325\/revisions\/473337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}