One other day, one other high-value pending unrestricted free agent is taken off the board. The Montreal Canadiens have announced a five-year extension for defenseman Mike Matheson. It’s price $30M for a cap hit of $6M, preserving him signed via the 2030-31 marketing campaign.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period initially reported the Canadiens had been nearing the extension with Matheson. Marco D’Amico of RG Media confirmed that negotiations had been headed in that path.
The extension finalizes the final essential merchandise on the Canadiens’ inner to-do record for the remainder of the season. Within the final 5 months alone, common supervisor Kent Hughes has inked Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson and now Matheson to long-term extensions. This comes a 12 months after the workforce did the identical for Kaiden Guhle.
Montreal had loads of area to make it occur as effectively. Earlier than Matheson’s extension, the Canadiens had roughly $26M in cap area for the 2026-27 marketing campaign.
It was price it for Montreal Canadiens to re-sign Mike Matheson
There’s little argument to assert he wasn’t price retaining both. Towards the start of his profession with the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Matheson had scored 49 objectives and 138 factors in 417 video games with a -9 ranking, averaging 20:15 of ice time in a top-four position. That manufacturing pales compared to his time in Quebec.
The 31-year-old blue liner has already surpassed his earlier manufacturing in almost half as many seasons. Although he earned extra ice time within the offensive zone earlier than the emergence of Hutson and the acquisition of Dobson, Matheson has scored 29 objectives and 141 factors in 232 video games donning the bleu, blanc et rouge.
Nonetheless, there may be some trigger for concern. At even power, Matheson hasn’t garnered above a 90% on-ice save share at even power since his first 12 months with the Canadiens, although a few of that may be attributed to starting 56.7% of his shifts within the defensive zone. Equally, in response to MoneyPuck, Matheson hasn’t produced a share above 50% on-ice objectives share at any level throughout his time with Montreal.
As they’ve performed this season by inserting him alongside Dobson, Matheson will probably transition right into a complementary piece fairly than being anticipated to hold his defensive pairing. Comparatively, Dobson has solely had one season by which he’s averaged lower than 50% on-ice objectives share.
Regardless, the Canadiens now have their top-four defensemen signed via the 2030-31 season, and that’s with out contemplating the anticipated emergence of prime prospect David Reinbacher. Now, with their final essential inner negotiation out of the best way, Hughes and the remainder of Montreal’s entrance workplace can focus totally on bringing a second-line middle into the combination.
