I hope the staff will have a good evaluation of what to do with Mike Matheson because thing can became a real horror story if they fall in love with him, keep him and sign him for too much money, and doing a lot more damage in the long run than good!!
He have a fantastic year, he can play 25 minutes a night, with Montreal he found a extra gear and he is a super elite skater but playing a lot of minutes with offensive production and being effective is two different thing! Devin Toews is 3x times the d-man Mike Matheson will never be whatever the numbers they have.
Matheson play the same kind of game here than Chabot with Ottawa and I think they hurt the team more than they really help them because they can't shutdown the others teams when they need it and have tendancy to have some brain camps; the syndrome D. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde way too much for a d-man playing that kind of minutes!
To resume, a first pairing D by default because of the team they played with more than anything else and with the success their teams have, we can understand the points are not everything for a effective top pairing D! Even if they produce well, they are not good enough on their zone to justify their salary once they are establish; we are lucky here to have Matheson under a fair contract!
If they try to use him to maximize his value in thinking to trade him in the next 2 years, the way we use him now it's perfect with the salary he has, Guhle and Hutson are slow down by him before their new contract but if they use him like that with the thinking to built with him, we are in deep trouble!
I don't like Guhle on his bad side, I understand we have nothing better at the moment, but in the long run I don't believe in the RD we have, I can't see Mailloux and/or Barron having success with close to none PP, at least not that kind of d-man I will target to fulfill my squad and in the big picture, I can see 4 LD be use at middle/long term. It's the reason I understand why they give Guhle some experience on that side because at some point a LD will need to do it; Guhle, Hutson, Xhekaj or Engstrom!
Even if Matheson really love Montreal and ready to take a home discount to stay, he will look for big bucks because he have pretty good leverage with his production and his ice-time and with the prospect we have I just don't see how we can justify his salary after his new contract! If Hutson establish himself within 2 two years, he will play between 75 and 118 seconds for the next 10-12-15 years in each PP and Matheson will not being able to came close of what they do now in production!
And my major issue with him, it's his confidence. Now everything it's fine, good or bad, he play 3 shifts on 7 on average and have all the opportunity in the world but how they will respond when they will have a more limited use, penalize for his mistake and someone will have the job to play with the puck other than him when we will need a goal. With the way he play I think he will try to force the play way too much and he can became a real issue because we will see the bad side of him, like every teams has before us!
Never forget where he came from and think at Florida even if he was really young. After signing him for 8 years and thinking he was a piece of the foundation, they have do everything to trade him because he have lost his game once he got paid for what he his suppose to do. Now, he is Superman the way we used him but don't take him for granted because thing can change fast!
I don't want to resign Matheson because I think he can became a real disaster even if he have some elite tools because he would be paid way too much for what he will do and because of his history with confidence and the assets we have in place, I just don't see him keep his game like last year when the team would be at maturity and I don't see him becoming effective enough without the puck to justify the salary he would have!
We would not being able to replace him by one player but a comity. Hutson will have is duty to produce with the puck and the time will be taken by Reinbacher and someone else if needed. In the long run, we will have a better guy to have with or without the puck not name Matheson!