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Mike Matheson had a different role last season, with Noah Dobson taking away his power play time.  Still, he managed to be a key contributor, making the most of that new role.  Armed with a new contract, what should the Canadiens be expecting from the veteran this season?

2025-26

While Matheson lost his power play time to Dobson, he gained a quality defence partner at even strength in Dobson.  Those two spent a lot of time playing behind Montreal’s top trio offensively, allowing Matheson to put up 34 points at even strength, the highest total of his career.  Yes, even higher than his second season with the Habs when he collected 62 points but just 32 of those were at even strength.

How Matheson got to his 34 even-strength points was a little erratic.  He was a double-digit point producer in the first and third quarters of the season.  However, he only had 11 points combined over the other two.  He was either producing like a top-pairing defender or more like a fourth or fifth one.  That type of inconsistency wasn’t great.

It’s also worth highlighting Matheson’s shorthanded playing time.  Yes, the Habs managed to shave a bit of time off his SH TOI per game by nearly 30 seconds per game.  That’s not nothing.  On the other hand, only one player league-wide – Stars blueliner Esa Lindell – played more on the penalty kill.

In the playoffs, Matheson’s offence was rather limited, continuing the trend from the fourth quarter.  However, he played huge minutes, especially shorthanded (at close to five minutes per night) as he was being deployed in a bit more of a defensive role.  The numbers weren’t particularly pretty but he had a solid postseason showing.

Regular Season Stats: 78 GP, 7-30-37, +9, 34 PIMS, 0 PPG, 3 GWG, 114 shots, 24:10 ATOI
Playoff Stats: 19 GP, 2-2-4, -1, 20 PIMS, 0 PPG, 1 GWG, 24 shots, 24:51 ATOI

5 Year Averages

GP: 72
Goals: 9
Assists: 30
Points: 39
+/-: -E
PIMS: 42
PPG: 1
GWG: 2
Shots: 143

2026-27 Role

There will come a time when Matheson’s playing time will start to tumble.  The question is when that will happen.  There’s a scenario where it could be this year, if they decide they want Dobson to play with Lane Hutson and really load up that top line.  Then, Matheson moves into more of a checking or defensive role, either with Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier, or perhaps David Reinbacher if he breaks camp with the Habs.

I’m not sure that will be the full-time plan, however.  As I noted in Dobson’s piece, I could see Hutson seeing more time with him but I expect Matheson will be Dobson’s primary partner.  A small dip in playing time overall wouldn’t be shocking but that might be just going from 24:10 per game to around 23:30 or so.  They didn’t give him a five-year contract to scale him back that fast.

In terms of special teams, Matheson remains unlikely to see much power play time, even though there’s a case to make that running with two defenders might be better than some of the forwards they were trotting out on the second unit.  But that’s not going to happen.  Meanwhile, there’s no reason to think he won’t be on the top penalty kill pairing once more.  Again, there will be a time during his contract when he’s not but that’s not going to be this season.

Projected Stats

While Matheson isn’t necessarily a wild card in terms of what he’ll be expected to provide in terms of his play this season, I think he’s a bit of a wild card from a production standpoint.  If he’s up with Dobson, seeing lots of even-strength time with the top line, there’s a pathway for him to hit 30 points without any special teams bumps.  That’d be a great outcome for Montreal.

However, I’m a little skeptical that Matheson will be able to repeat quite as high of a level of even-strength production.  Knowing that special teams points are going to be few and far between (if he gets any), that means his output is likely to tick back down, at least a little bit.  And that little bit may very well make a big difference in valuation from a fantasy standpoint.

Matheson carries some extra fantasy value in leagues that have blocked shots as a scoring category although he has been trending down a bit in that department.  Same for shots on goal as a lack of power play minutes cuts into those.  Still, he should be a triple-digit player in both of those.  Matheson is a strong number three option for the Habs but in fantasy, he’s more of a fourth option, fifth if it’s a shallower league.

GP: 80
Goals: 8
Assists: 25
Points: 33
+/-: -+5
PIMS: 34
PPG: 0
GWG: 1
Shots: 108