Should The Habs Re-Sign Mike Matheson?

Going into the 2025-26 campaign, it was looking as if his time with the Canadiens may be done after the year, as he lost his role on the power play to both Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson over the past two years. However, Matheson is already looking like a much better player on the defensive side of the puck than he has over the past few seasons. He has now taken on the role of the team’s top penalty-killing defenseman with the retirement of David Savard. Matheson has also taken on the role of the oldest player of the defensive group, and is showing that being over 30 years old won’t slow his elite skating ability down.

A lot of the reasons that Matheson’s time in Montreal may have been questioned were because it was thought that someone like Kaiden Guhle was already better defensively than Matheson. It may be a small sample, but Matheson has proven that he is easily the top defenseman when it comes to the defensive side of the puck as it stands right now. With the fact that he is the most complete defenseman on both sides of the ice currently, it would be a good idea to keep a player like that around.

Even if Guhle’s defensive game eventually surpasses Matheson’s during the year, the veteran will still be better on the offensive side, and he will continue to be a strong performer on defense nonetheless.

It seems like taking Matheson off the power play allowed him to show just how good defensively he can be when not needing to focus on the offensive game as much. The Habs are also able to cut Matheson’s ice time with both Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson continuing to grow into better defensemen. However, they could still use a veteran defenseman who can handle big minutes when times get tough for the Guhle-Hutson pairing. 

Another positive is that keeping Matheson could allow the Canadiens to put less pressure on a prospect like David Reinbacher to develop, as his recent injuries have set him back in development.

Therefore, keeping Matheson around would be a good move until some of the young defensemen can be considered experienced veterans. The one issue with keeping Matheson, though, is that the left side is very stacked, and the team lacks a true right-handed top 4 defenseman behind Dobson and ahead of Alexandre Carrier.

This means that for now, Hutson, as an offensive defenseman, is forced to play on the right side. In reality, Hutson can effectively play on the right side, but many believe that Hutson would be better suited to play his natural left side. Despite this, Hutson actually played his best hockey in the NHL on the right side with both Guhle and Jayden Struble. Hutson may be one of the few defensemen who is actually better playing on his off-side.

With that being said, signing Matheson may not be the worst decision the Canadiens could make, as he seems to have another 2-3 really good years left in him after this season. Matheson will likely need to take around his current salary if he does want to stay in Montreal.

The Habs must be careful given his age on the length of the contract, but a 3-year $15 million deal would be good for both sides to agree on. A deal like this would allow the team to have the salary to do other moves that are needed to improve the team. As for Matheson, he gets to stay longer with the team he grew up watching.

What do you think about the Canadiens considering signing Mike Matheson?