Montreal Canadiens: The Next Defenseman On The Way Out

There is a reality where the Montreal Canadiens don't bring back Mike Matheson after the final year of his deal. He isn't the only veteran on the team with Alexandre Carrier playing on one of the bottom two pairs and top-4 roles can easily be given to Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle, and Carrier/David Reinbacher the following season.

Matheson is on a team-friendly deal right now for what he has done for the Canadiens, especially before Hutson stepped in and took over the majority of the power-play time. Matheson is a top-4 defenseman, but could easily be moved to a stable second pairing player on another contender that isn't so rich defensively.

With where Montreal is, there is very little chance the team trades Matheson this coming season. Even after, it makes much more sense for him to hit free agency than be signed and traded. Teams lose higher level talent to free agency all the time and Matheson will just be one of those players that moves on since his role has changed a lot in a short time.

The Canadiens aren't necessarily strapped for cap space, but freeing up a bit to potentially grab a star at forward or a legitimate second line center makes more sense for their future than running with five to six defensemen who can and should be playing top-4 minutes.

Matheson had six goals and 31 points in 80 games, which is respectable, but that is one year after he put up 11 goals and 62 points. He scored 28 power-play points the season prior compared to just 10 last season. His ice time on the man advantage was a sliver under two minutes per game, but Hutson had 2:49 of ice time on the power play last season as a rookie.

The Canadiens may hurt a little on the penalty kill and need a replacement if Matheson leaves, but I think they will be better off using the cap space elsewhere and not cramming up the defense.