I'm not a fan of him, I will admit it. I don't understand this narrative of "He'll help mentor the kids!"... mentor them to do what, not make simple plays, cough pucks up, and scoop them out of our net when the other team scores?
Yeah i'm not sure about the mentorship angle either, I think most players actually don't want to be mentors if anything. But for me it's more about his value as a contributor on this team, he does jumpstart a lot of our offense and again, although he's no defensive stalwart, his skating enables him to cover a lot of ground defensively.
To me there's a lot of value in that for the continued development of the players we currently have. I don't think there's anyone on the roster right now whose capable of doing what he does on the ice at this stage of their careers.
Of course, you hope one day Hutson/Mailloux/Reinbacher can bring some of the elements that Matheson has but in a more "holistic" way, but what are you telling Suzuki, Caufield, Slaf, Dach, Newhook and any other player this team is building, by taking away one of it's prime offensive weapons?
Obviously he can have great offensive instincts. I've posted in PGTs and his own thread that he's scored some goals this year that no one in our lineup is even capable of doing. But I find the casual fan (not calling you this or saying that automatically if you're a fan of MM that you're casual) looks at his stats and automatically assumes that he's an amazing player. The reality as I see it is that he's very good going one way and pretty brutal going the other way. And when the position you play involves a lot of you being at least passable going that other way, that's where I have a problem.
To me it's just what he brings and what he does, has a certain value...and that value is very high. So when I read that someone would trade him for a mid round 1st round pick, it's a head scratcher to me.
And I wouldn't call myself a "fan" per se, like you, I think there's some holes in his game but I do think he's gotten much better as a complete player. The player I thought we were acquiring when we traded for him and the player he is today (at least IMO) is totally different.
So again, i'm not opposed to trading him...I just think he's worth more than what's being tossed around here. There aren't a lot of dmen in the NHL who can skate and do the things he does offensively (not withstanding his defensive lapses).
There was an interview with Xhekaj got sent down earlier this year and he specifically mentioned Matheson as getting a lot of rope because he produces points, so he felt he had to work on that part of his game as well to start getting some more rope. That really bothered me, because it shows even guys on the team notice the lack of accountability concerning him when he makes a bonehead play.
I think it's normal that guys who produce offensively, tend to get more rope. But that's probably got more to do with Matheson's standing as a veteran more than anything.
