Top-10 Offensive Defenseman in the League Reportedly Placed on the Trade Block
Mike Matheson emerged as one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHl last season, racking up 62 points, and finishing in the top-10 in defensive league scoring.
Following a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Montreal Canadiens, where former first-round pick Ryan Poehling, as well as veteran Jeff Petry were moved to Pittsburgh for Matheson and a fourth, Matheson has exceeded expectations.
The icing on that cake is that the fourth round pick turned into Bogdan Konyushkov, one of the best defensive prospects in the NHL!
However, the emergence of star young defenseman Lane Hutson, who is by far the better option on the power play, and is already among the best offensive defensemen in the NHL (he trails only Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar in points among defensemen in December), has made Matheson movable.
Per Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun, along with veteran David Savard, Mike Matheson may be a player on the move ahead of the trade deadline:
"No. 1, we know what that Montreal Canadiens blueline should look like in the not too distant future. So you're going to see the likes of David Reinbacher, you're going to see Logan Mailloux occupying a full-time position on that Montreal blueline. Alright, so they create a little bit more room there, but they also bring in the experience of Alexandre Carrier and that could help them kind of make their way to the future.
"But in the meantime, if someone were to make an offer on say veteran defenceman like Savard or (Mike) Matheson, then this gives backfill to Kent Hughes to consider that between now and March 7th. So Kent Hughes is in a pretty good spot in terms of trying to bolster what he already has."
Having brought in a new face in Alexandre Carrier, and having moved out a more offensively minded option in Justin Barron, Matheson's veteran presence is less necessary as well.
The Montreal native has certainly won over the hearts of Canadiens fans, with his earnest bilingual press conferences and high-end play, but hockey is a business, and it seems that Matheson will not be a Hab for life.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mark Scheifele | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Kyle Connor | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Sidney Crosby | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 4 | 4 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Jack Hughes | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Jonathan Marchessault | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Brad Marchand | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Rickard Rakell | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Filip Forsberg | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Sean Monahan | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Zachary Werenski | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Michael Bunting | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Elias Pettersson | 2 | - | 2 | |
| John Tavares | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dmitry Voronkov | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Charlie Coyle | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 36 | 25 | 10 | 1 | 51 | |
Golden Knights | 34 | 23 | 8 | 3 | 49 | |
Devils | 37 | 23 | 11 | 3 | 49 | |
Capitals | 34 | 23 | 9 | 2 | 48 | |
Wild | 35 | 21 | 10 | 4 | 46 | |
Panthers | 36 | 22 | 12 | 2 | 46 | |
Oilers | 34 | 21 | 11 | 2 | 44 | |
Maple Leafs | 35 | 21 | 12 | 2 | 44 | |
Hurricanes | 34 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 43 | |
Kings | 34 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 43 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||