Another day, another high-value pending unrestricted free agent is taken off the board. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Montreal Canadiens are nearing a five-year extension with defenseman Mike Matheson. Marco D’Amico of RG Media confirmed that negotiations were headed in that direction, with an announcement expected as soon as today.
The extension finalizes the last important item on the Canadiens’ internal to-do list for the rest of the season. In the last five months alone, General Manager Kent Hughes has inked Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, and now Matheson to long-term extensions. This comes a year after the team did the same for Kaiden Guhle.
Montreal had plenty of space to make it happen as well. Before Matheson’s upcoming extension, the Canadiens had approximately $26MM in cap space for the 2026-27 campaign. Even though it’s expected that the 11-year veteran will earn a healthy raise on his current $4.875MM salary, Montreal will still have ample room to add.
There’s little argument to claim he wasn’t worth retaining either. Toward the beginning of his career with the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Matheson had scored 49 goals and 138 points in 417 games with a -9 rating, averaging 20:15 of ice time in a top-four role. That production pales in comparison to his time in Quebec.
The 31-year-old blue liner has already surpassed his previous production in nearly half as many seasons. Though he earned more ice time in the offensive zone before the emergence of Hutson and the acquisition of Dobson, Matheson has scored 29 goals and 141 points in 232 games donning the bleu, blanc, and rouge.
Still, there is some cause for concern. At even strength, Matheson hasn’t garnered an above-90% on-ice save percentage at even strength since his first year with the Canadiens, though some of that can be attributed to beginning 56.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone. Similarly, according to MoneyPuck, Matheson hasn’t produced a percentage above 50% on-ice goals % at any point during his time with Montreal.
As they’ve done this season by placing him alongside Dobson, Matheson will likely transition into a complementary piece rather than being expected to carry his defensive pairing. Comparatively, Dobson has only had one season where he’s averaged less than a 50% on-ice goals %.
Regardless, the Canadiens now have their top-four defensemen signed through the 2030-31 season, and that’s without considering the expected emergence of top prospect David Reinbacher. Now, with their last important internal negotiation out of the way, Hughes and the rest of Montreal’s front office can focus entirely on bringing a second-line center into the mix.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.
