Author of the article: Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette
Publication date: July 16, 2022 • 6 hours ago • 4 minutes read • 7 comments Florida Panthers linebacker Mike Matheson takes part in team practice in Montreal on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. Photo by Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette Archives

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It was January 2019 and the Florida Panthers were at the Bell Center to play the Canadiens.

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After the morning skate, Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson met with the Montreal media and answered questions very comfortably in English and French. Matheson is a native of Pointe-Claire, but hadn’t spent much time during the winter in Montreal since the 2010-11 season, when he captained the minor Triple-A Lac St. Louis Lions. After that, he spent one season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL in Iowa, followed by three years at Boston College and then two seasons in the AHL with the San Antonio Rampage and Portland Pirates. The Panthers selected him in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft. Mike Matheson with Lac St. Louis Lions in 2010. Photo by Bob Eardley Matheson talked about how special it was to be back in Montreal, to be able to visit his parents, Rod and Marg, spend time with his older brother, Kenny, and get a good home-cooked meal.

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“It’s nice to be able to go home and relax and do a little reset,” Matheson said. “On the way back to the hotel last night after dinner, we drove to the old outdoor rinks that I used to play on,” he added. “So it was fun to take a trip down memory lane.” On Saturday, life came full circle for Matheson when the Pittsburgh Penguins traded him to the Canadiens for defenseman Jeff Petry. The Canadiens also sent forward Ryan Poehling to Pittsburgh as part of the deal, while the Penguins sent a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to Montreal. The trade will reunite Matheson with his family and also with Kent Hughes. Before becoming GM of the Canadiens in January, Hughes was Matheson’s agent. “I know him as a person,” said Hughes, who also grew up on Montreal’s West Island. “I feel very comfortable that Mike is the type of guy in our locker room at this point in his career that can help our young players, whether it’s draft picks like Juraj Slafkovsky, or our young defensemen trying to open up the their way. regular NHL players. I think Mike is a five-star guy who can help our club a lot to help our young players.”

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Thanks to Jeff for his solid eight years on the blue line, his community involvement, and sweet times with Boyd. Thank you @PetryJ for eight solid years on the blue line, your involvement in the community, and all of Boyd’s cute content. Good luck in Pittsburgh! pic.twitter.com/10q1u6il8w — Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 16, 2022

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Petrie had asked to be traded from Montreal last season for family reasons, and Hughes said he would only make a deal if he believed he could help the Canadiens moving forward. The 28-year-old Matheson is six years younger than Petry and is coming off the best season of his career, totaling 11-20-31 in 74 games. Petry is coming off his worst season with the Canadiens, going 6-21-27 in 68 games. Matheson has four seasons on his contract with a salary cap of $4.875 million, while Petry has three seasons on his contract with a salary cap of $6.25 million. Hughes’ patience in the Petrie trade paid off and he didn’t have to eat any of his contract. The deal makes sense for the Canadiens for a number of reasons, including getting rid of a defenseman who no longer wanted to be in Montreal and bringing in one who grew up here. Matheson will speak to the media on Monday.

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“In any trade that we were going to think about with Pittsburgh — or any other team that Jeff Petry was involved with — one of the pieces that either had to come in the trade or we had to be able to acquire afterward was a defenseman,” Hughes said. . “We weren’t prepared to go into the next season with two defensemen who had played full-time, or (had) a lot of NHL experience (Joel Edmundson and David Savard). So we wanted to do that. The hard part in today’s National Hockey League is having the space to be able to do that and to be able to move the money. We apologize, but this video failed to load.

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“A player like Jeff Petry at his contract age usually goes to a team that’s trying to compete for a Stanley Cup,” Hughes added. “It’s hard for these teams to take money without giving money back, and Mike Matheson is a defenseman who played top-four minutes in Pittsburgh who brings a lot of the traits that we’re missing in a Jeff Petry in terms of his ability to carry. the elf.” Hughes puts a lot of emphasis on analytics and noted that Mathieson, an excellent skater, ranked in the 90th percentile last season in the NHL in being on the ice for goals his team scored in five-on-five situations per 60 minutes and ranked in the 85th percentile in units. The GM added that five of Matheson’s 11 goals were game-winners and that almost all of his offensive output (18 of 20 points) came in equal measure. The Panthers decided to lock Matheson up for a long-term role after his first full NHL season (2016-17), signing him to an eight-year, $39 million contract. The weight of that contract and the expectations that come with it in Florida proved to be heavy on Matheson, who was traded to Pittsburgh on September 24, 2020. Last season, he really found his game. Now, he finds his way back home. [email protected] twitter.com/StuCowan1

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