Canadiens’ Matheson Gets a Lot of Hate, Most of It Unjustified

Hockey can be unfair. Despite their best all-around performance of the season so far, the Montreal Canadiens lost 5-2 to the Nashville Predators, a final score that doesn’t do the Habs justice. Outshot 34-20, the Predators scored two empty-net goals, while the game-winner came late on a power play, gifted to them when Mike Matheson tripped up Steven Stamkos.

Needless to say, if there was someone to shoulder the blame for this loss, many Canadiens fans would probably single out the veteran defenseman. That’s at least understandable, but it wouldn’t be entirely justifiable, at least looking at the general criticism he seems to be receiving as of late.

Anderson vs. Matheson

It’s fitting it was Stamkos that got tripped on the play. Late in the second period, as the Predators tied it up 2-2 after they had at one point been down two goals to none, Stamkos got cross-checked by forward Josh Anderson into the net. The ensuing penalty wasn’t as costly as Matheson’s, but it was wholly unnecessary, in that the hit was late and Anderson failed to prevent Stamkos from getting a few whacks at the puck and ultimately the primary assist on Matthew Wood’s game-tying goal on the play. Had Anderson been in better position, maybe the goal doesn’t get scored. Maybe there’s a different outcome to the game the Habs had been dominating up to then.

Anderson’s penalty also put the Preds back on the power play in the dying seconds of the period, when the goal itself had ended one (to Noah Dobson for tripping Filip Forsberg). Needless to say, there’s plenty of blame to go around for the loss, even if as a whole the Canadiens deserved better. It’s just funny in that, while it’s understandable Matheson would be a focal point of the frustration of fans, he and Anderson had similarly disappointing games. Yet Anderson is more so generally hailed as a hero. And, to be clear, this isn’t necessarily in regard to a single game.

Anderson admittedly set up a goal against the Predators and had his share of offensive chances, including one clear-cut breakaway and another that resulted in a drawn penalty. In contrast Matheson indirectly cost the Canadiens the game. However, look at it another way: Anderson technically did as well by failing to make good on the influx of offensive opportunities he enjoyed, which probably in no small way had something to do with his promotion to the second line as head coach Martin St. Louis switched up his lines.

Anderson Belongs in Bottom Six

The fact is, Anderson is not a finisher. He’s a lot of things. A lot of good things, but he’s not a top-six forward, and he certainly won’t magically become one at Age 32, when he’s never scored more than that same amount of points in now-six seasons with the Canadiens, despite countless opportunities at the top of the lineup. As the Habs go down this road for the umpteenth time, trying to pass him off as a complete player, mark these words: It’s just one game. And one game does not make someone deserving of a permanent role on the second line. And, looking at his game as a whole, past the assist he collected, it wasn’t an especially great one.

By the end of the latest iteration of this experiment, Anderson will have re-established himself as someone who belongs in a bottom-six role. It’s happened before. It will again. There’s no shame in that, especially seeing as he’s not the one responsible for continually miscasting him in the top six. He’s just doing his best, similar to how Matheson has seemingly been thrust into a role for which he’s far from suited, as a shutdown defenseman, despite his offensively-inclined skill set.

Matheson didn’t score 62 points in 2023-24 by accident. He also didn’t fall down to 31 points the following season because he suddenly forgot how to drive the play up the ice. His decline in production coincided with the arrival of Lane Hutson, who’s simply put better at the job. Matheson nevertheless eats a lot of minutes, having led the team in ice time with 24:10 last season.

Similar to with the ever-polarizing P.K. Subban, who was much-maligned for his play in his own zone, giveaways are a function of how valuable you are to your team. The more you play, the more you have the puck and the more you give it away, with James Norris Memorial Trophy-winner Zach Werenski leading all defensemen in that statistical category last season. If you’re conversely a giveaway machine without bringing anything to the table, you’re not going to play. So, less giveaways overall.

Canadiens’ Penalty Kill Needs Work

Lo and behold, Dobson, Matheson and Hutson led the Canadiens with 95, 94 and 93 giveaways each. They also were the team’s top three players in terms of ice time. Now, that’s not to say Matheson gets a pass for all the mistakes he makes, especially ones that end up as goals against, just that context is required. Whether he belongs in his current role as the team’s penalty-kill specialist is debatable.

Ultimately, special teams haven’t exactly excelled to start the season and the penalty kill, which Matheson anchored with a league-leading 3:56 per game shorthanded, finished with a mediocre 18th-ranked 78.2% success rate. Nevertheless, he was awarded the Jacques Beauchamp-Molson Trophy last season as the team’s most unsung hero, largely for reinventing himself. He succeeded Josh Anderson, who won it for his play in 2024-25, when he rebounded from a by-all-accounts horrible 20-point 2023-24. The thing is, Anderson won it by scoring just 27 points. He won by becoming more effective in a niche role, a niche that doesn’t call for him to score to find success, because, as has been proven, he only can produce in a pinch-utility capacity.

That 2023-24 season is intriguing for the purposes of this piece, because it’s the last campaign Matheson was deployed in a fashion that truly complements his skills. Interestingly, it’s the last season he earned a higher wins-above-replacement figure (0.2) than Anderson (last on the team with -1.97 per HockeyStats.com). Every season since Matheson has been in the negative.

Canadiens Need to Look in the Mirror

There’s a moral to all this. Just like Anderson is consistently more effective outside of a starring role, Matheson shouldn’t be forced into playing one at which the numbers say he’s objectively worse. They each have their strengths, and Matheson’s is producing offense from the blue line, which he ironically does better than Anderson up front. They each have their part to play, especially as co-alternate captains on this team, which speaks to one additional similarity and critical point. The Canadiens see value in them both outside of their individual skill sets, which, while very different, are personified by players with very similar profiles outside of the positions they play. They’re even the same age with similar cap hits.

The difference is Anderson ($5.5 million) is in the last season of his, while Matheson ($6 million) is the first of his current five-year deal, which, in spite of how he’s perceived, even after taking a bad penalty that led to a costly goal, has the capacity to be a huge bargain. The Canadiens just need to quit relying on him as they have. If Anderson can find new life in a supporting role and still be embraced as a critical component of the team’s success, while earning the salary he does, Matheson can too, perhaps lower down the lineup to exploit the lax defense of the bottoms of opposing teams’ lineups. That’s only fair. It would just require the Habs to realize this latest mistake may have been Matheson’s officially speaking, but there’s blame to go around.

It’s their mistake too.