As part of the build-up to the first-round playoff series between the Capitals and the Canadiens, we will be looking at some of Montreal’s most important players to know…
Mike Matheson
#8 | Defense
Height: 6’2” | Weight: 196
Born: February 27, 1994
Birthplace: Pointe-Claire, QC
Acquired: Acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade for Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling in July 2022
Scouting Report:
Mike Matheson is an elegant skating two-way defenseman with tremendous mobility. Plays crisp passes and possesses solid puck-skills, although he tends to over stick-handle the puck and loses control. Sees the ice well and makes a good first pass out of his zone or skates with the puck up the ice when he sees an opening and defends with good gap-control, using his excellent skating-abilities. Has good size and protects the puck well, but despite that he tends to rely to much on him shielding the puck and gets into troubles. He is a nice addition to a team’s top-4 defensive core and can be used in all situations.
Elite Prospects
Why You Should Know Who He Is: No Habs skater played more than Matheson in 2024-25, by either total or average ice time. In fact, Matheson’s 25:05 per game ranked seventh in the League, a good minute-and-a-half more per outing than Caps’ top minute-muncher John Carlson. Matty (which we can only assume is his nickname) plays in all situations, can skate and pass a bit and has decent size.
Sounds like a stud, right?
How the Caps Can Stop Him: Well, he’s not. He’s a perfectly fine blueliner, but likely not suited for the role and all the minutes in which Montreal has been using him. This… is not great:
Neither is this profile:
You get the point. For the back half of the season, Matheson has been skating at fives alongside Alexandre Carrier for the most part and the results have been, well, terrible: Per Natural Stat Trick, the duo has a five-on-five Goals-For percentage of just 35.9% and an expected GF% of just a tick above that at 41.1%.
The bottom line here is that you’ll see a lot of Matheson and, for the Caps, that should be a good thing. He is absolutely a guy you don’t have to game plan for, so it’s not a question of stopping him, but rather a matter of taking advantage when he’s on the ice. Given some of the other talents on the Montreal blueline, if the Caps’ only play Matheson even, they may be in some trouble.