Matheson is a 20 minute defenseman in the NHL. He's already out played Riikola and POJ. No chance he has to "win a spot". That'd be asinine without even considering the contract.
You draw such weird conclusions. Make it sound like coaches always make the correct line-up decisions. Should know better than that by now, having followed the Penguins the last few years.
Matheson is a 20 minute defenseman because he had a successful season at the end of his ELC in 2017-18, and got a massive contract that he can't live up to. In the same way that coaches felt obliged to play JJ and Schultz recently, Matheson was played too. They were hoping he'd find his game again. In 2018-19 he had 64 takeaways and, get this, 135 giveaways. Believe that was the most in the NHL. Those 27 point seasons look nice but the cost is grievous. He's a liability, unlike Riikola.
If he's as great as you suggest then Florida would never have traded him. He's in his prime years.
Just ask Panthers fans. They were celebrating after the trade for a reason.
Is it possible he turns it around here? Sure, I guess. Maybe Reirden can work some magic and with a more serious organization with higher expectations maybe he'll refocus and rejuvenate his career.
Am I expecting him to though? No. He has a serious carelessness problem, just like Letang. Problem is he doesn't provide half as much as Tanger apart from that. Almost always when a player has an extreme awareness issue like that, it can't be cured.
I actually agree with you that he won't have to win his spot like the rest. That's just what I would like to see. But it will probably be because he has the inside track with his contract. Rutherford looks stupid if they don't use him, even if Matheson's gutter trash in training camp.
I'm still disgusted we got rid of Hornqvist for a defenseman we didn't even need. Horny was scoring at a similar clip to his career averages. The goal scoring was actually above average. And he was doing that with a crappy PP.
Classic case of change for the sake of change.
