Post-Game Talk: No what ifs but imagine if Matheson was scratched all round. Cats 3 NYI 2

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

 

[GrumpyKelly]

He was thrown into the fire too quickly. Thrown into the playoffs for his first action, then was expected to play top pair right away with someone two years younger than him. Look at Weegar as a comparison. Has spent time in ECHL, AHL and NHL (where he started on the bottom pair). I'm not here to defend MM. He's a liability. But it's not difficult to see why he never learned the thinking side of the game

Yeah he was given too big of a role. But he did play three years in college and a year in the ahl and was 22/23 in his first full year at this level. For a highly regarded prospect I wouldn't say he was mishandled, not in any big way at least. The guy just never developed. At all.

 

[Drugs Delaney]

If it were up to me he wouldn’t play another game at D for us, unless injuries made it necessary. He should be a 4th line winger for all of next season, see if we can bribe Seattle into taking him, if not then play as a 4th liner in the following season and buy him out after that. But I never want to see him play D for us again. Unfortunately that won’t be the case though. He’ll get a couple at forward though I’m sure

I think he'd be a pretty good forward. They could really use speed like his.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Unfortunately, Matheson will play more games for us. Which is why Q plays him, he needs him to figure things out. I bet he's hoping scratching him will light a fire in him and cause him to focus on improving his game. I would play him at forward too, but idk how long that lasts until Matheson sours on that and turns into a turd at forward too.

 

[ShootIt]

Yeah he was given too big of a role. But he did play three years in college and a year in the ahl and was 22/23 in his first full year at this level. For a highly regarded prospect I wouldn't say he was mishandled, not in any big way at least. The guy just never developed. At all.

Story of most panther prospects.

 

[aonb]

hello, caps fan here again. solid win guys, i hope you can steal another one. weird fact about one of my favourites players: including this playoffs, ekblad hasn't score a goal in last 48 games! guy has cannon of a shot so it's really strange for me

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

They showed the Huberdeau injury for anyone that taped the game, at 9:55 mark of the 3rd period he has a minor collision with Acciari in the Panthers zone. Looked pretty innocent.

 

[MintyFresh88]

They showed the Huberdeau injury for anyone that taped the game, at 9:55 mark of the 3rd period he has a minor collision with Acciari in the Panthers zone. Looked pretty innocent.

Yes, hopefully not serious. It did look like his knee area maybe bent a bit strange, so who knows.

 

[MintyFresh88]

Matheson is the stereotypical "has all the tools but no toolbox" -guy. Million dollar skating and athleticism but a 10 cent brain.

His confidence is shot as well and rightfully so. Every mistake he makes gets amplified and seems to burn us.

 

[pantherbot]

Thinking about Math a bit more...I think we're stuck with his contract for better or worse. I doubt we'll be able to offload him without giving up a lot, which given where our salary situation is going, probably isn't a good idea - we need all the good ELCs we can keep. I don't see us buying him out, it would be on the books for way too long and we're trying to save money, not pay a guy to not play.

The only thing I can think of is to help him get his confidence back and get back to the pre-Pettersson Matheson. That guy was trending up, but it seems like since that hit he's lost his mojo and it just kept snowballing. He knows he's playing bad, he has acknowledged it himself and off the ice he's not stupid. My suggest would be to put him in the AHL (if it comes back next season) to help him get some confidence back, focus on hockey basics, and let him see he can be more than a scrub d-man. This would cost us money as well, but maybe we can salvage his contract.

Unfortunately my bet would be that we see Matheson back in the line up for next season and the same problems to continue.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

hello, caps fan here again. solid win guys, i hope you can steal another one. weird fact about one of my favourites players: including this playoffs, ekblad hasn't score a goal in last 48 games! guy has cannon of a shot so it's really strange for me

Ya its a bit alarming but his goal total is down in general because he’s not getting as much PP time (he'd usually get 4-5 goals a year on there in previous seasons) and is more used on the PK. When his goal total went down, he reached career high in assists.

 

[16Skippy]

I wish Stralman was a bit better. Covi-19 needs to play with someone good enough to shelter him, like Campbell did for Ekblad initially.

 

[MintyFresh88]

I wish Stralman was a bit better. Covi-19 needs to play with someone good enough to shelter him, like Campbell did for Ekblad initially.

If Matheson had his crap together, I think he would be an ideal partner for him.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

If Matheson had his crap together, I think he would be an ideal partner for him.

You can say "shit".

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I've said this on the main boards. But it's really not as exciting of a problem as it might seem. But from what I've seen Matheson can't pivot well, going backwards, and going forwards as well really. And since his skating gets picked out as a major asset, no one even recognizes he has a problem. And it leads to everything else, things just compound on each other, including his low confidence.

The low IQ plays happen because he can't function like a normal hockey player physically. And it leads to panic situations. And like I said, a big problem there is he thinks and everyone else looks at his skating as an asset, instead of an issue (as far as the pivoting). It's a wound that's just left unattended.

He doesn't need to solve it (that would be asking too much IMO). He just needs to mitigate it as much as possible. And work around it. I don't know if he'll do it here. But if someone gets with him in another organization and recognizes, it might help him settle down a bit.

Edit: And these are things that the Panthers as an organization have historically not done well, develop prospects. I know he spent time in college and the AHL if I remember correctly. But when he came up to the show, he should have been sheltered, like someone already mentioned. And the team as a whole should have been functioning better, playing better more structured hockey. That's a big help for developing prospects.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

Strongly agree with the 'try Matheson at wing" suggestions. I feel like we have nothing to lose at all by experimenting with it.

 

[Beezer]

They announce what time game will be yet?

 

[zeroG]

Strongly agree with the 'try Matheson at wing" suggestions. I feel like we have nothing to lose at all by experimenting with it.

he's played wing this year and done ok.

i don't think that's a medium or long-term solution, however. there are plenty of less expensive and more effective players available to play 4th line minutes.

 

[zeroG]

I've said this on the main boards. But it's really not as exciting of a problem as it might seem. But from what I've seen Matheson can't pivot well, going backwards, and going forwards as well really. And since his skating gets picked out as a major asset, no one even recognizes he has a problem. And it leads to everything else, things just compound on each other, including his low confidence.

The low IQ plays happen because he can't function like a normal hockey player physically. And it leads to panic situations. And like I said, a big problem there is he thinks and everyone else looks at his skating as an asset, instead of an issue (as far as the pivoting). It's a wound that's just left unattended.

He doesn't need to solve it (that would be asking too much IMO). He just needs to mitigate it as much as possible. And work around it. I don't know if he'll do it here. But if someone gets with him in another organization and recognizes, it might help him settle down a bit.

Edit: And these are things that the Panthers as an organization have historically not done well, develop prospects. I know he spent time in college and the AHL if I remember correctly. But when he came up to the show, he should have been sheltered, like someone already mentioned. And the team as a whole should have been functioning better, playing better more structured hockey. That's a big help for developing prospects.

i agree with your last point - a more structured defensive approach would certainly benefit him.

to the extent the run-n-gun approach has been a failure for Q in year 1, i would expect at least a slightly more conservative approach in terms of personnel and systems moving forward. that may help matheson.

i do not think matheson has any issues pivoting. i hope i don't get a chance to look for that any time soon but i will try to pay attention next time i see him.

nor do i think that would cause cascading issues with his play. i think it's simply decision making. whether the game's moving too fast for him or he's had/developed some bad habits (or a combination), it's hard to say.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

They announce what time game will be yet?

Noon EST on Friday

 

[Gentle Man]

I wish Stralman was a bit better. Covi-19 needs to play with someone good enough to shelter him, like Campbell did for Ekblad initially.

That nickname is elite. Jesus lol

 

[violaswallet]

hello, caps fan here again. solid win guys, i hope you can steal another one. weird fact about one of my favourites players: including this playoffs, ekblad hasn't score a goal in last 48 games! guy has cannon of a shot so it's really strange for me

Not a super formal answer, but his usage has changed: He has been paired with Weegar who seems to be left open more (perhaps teams play towards Ek?)

 

[violaswallet]

he's played wing this year and done ok.

i don't think that's a medium or long-term solution, however. there are plenty of less expensive and more effective players available to play 4th line minutes.

Eh, he had that killer game with Pysyk and Acciari). I agree it isn't an ideal use of cap space, but question is whether it is better than buying him out? (We essentially gain 2.5 mil in savings during the next few years when cap matters most) I'm curious if we had him train for an offseason for the transition how we will do? Think about guys like Burns who jumped back and forth.

The other option is to trade him for another albatross contract, but I don't see what we could do. Maybe a guy like Lucic? He would add a bit more in cap and contract is up when we need to sign Huby again, but could be more useful?

 

[Android 16]

Collective puke

 

[FrolikFan67]

Problem with the idea of “we’re stuck with him so may as well let him play and figure it out” is that we’ve tried. There’s nothing more for him to figure out. He won’t just snap out of it. It’s wishful thinking but it won’t happen, this is what he is. The signing was a failure because he’s become a failure, and not just that, but a detriment to the entire team. I swear to god please let Seattle take him. Play him as a winger next year and if there’s justice in the world please let him be a Kraken player from there on out