Penguins A to Z: Can Mike Matheson finally realize his potential?
As the NHL prepares for a new season scheduled to start in mid-January, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 48 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.
Mike Matheson
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Age: 26
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 188 pounds
2019-20 NHL statistics: 59 games, 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists)
Contract: Third year of an eight-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4.875 million. Pending restricted free agent in 2026.
Acquired: Trade, Sept. 24, 2020
Last season: Mike Matheson was supposed to be part of the solution in of turning around a woebegone franchise.
Instead, he was just another in a seemingly endless line of prospects who languished in the purgatory that is the seemingly endless rebuilding project otherwise known as the Florida Panthers.
A first-round pick (No. 23 overall) in 2012 under the regime of former general manager Dale Tallon, Matheson was seen as part of an influx of young players — along with stars such as Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau — who would turn the unremarkable Panthers into a Stanley Cup contender.
And by the time he debuted late in the 2015-16 season, Matheson even had a small role in the Panthers making an all-too-rare postseason appearance that spring under coach Gerard Gallant.
Whatever momentum the Panthers harassed that season was snuffed out as Tom Rowe took over as general manager and head coach. Not coincidental, the Panthers missed the playoffs the following campaign and Tallon was back in office by April of 2017.
Only six months later, the Panthers went all in on Matheson and signed him to a monster eight-year contract worth nearly five million per season. It was an exorbitant amount for a player full of potential but light with accomplishment.
Matheson ate plenty of minutes in all situations on the ice but never scored more than 27 points in a season. And the Panthers’ success on the ice was limited to be kind.
Last season, Matheson struggled under another coach, Joel Quenneville, as he was an occasional healthy scratch during the regular season as well as the Panthers’ final two playoff games in their preliminary round series against the New York Islanders.
With another general manager, Bill Zito, taking over, the Panthers parted ways with Matheson and his monster contract by dealing him along with forward Colton Sceviour to the Penguins in exchange for forward Patric Hornqvist.
By the time Matheson’s tenure in Florida had concluded, he had played for four different coaches and two different general managers over parts of five seasons.
The future: The Penguins are hoping to use a similar formula for success with Matheson. Give him a lesser role and hope he thrives. It worked for defensemen such as Ian Cole and Justin Schultz. And new assistant coach Todd Reirden has a well-documented track record of getting something out of defensemen with lesser skills such as Deryk Engelland or Brooks Orpik.
Matheson will have a chance to operate in a far more stable environment than he ever experienced with the Panthers.
In the short-term, Matheson figures to find a home on the Penguins’ third pairing as Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson are ahead of him on the depth chart. A strong skater who isn’t afraid to initiate a rush up ice, Matheson has the primary attribute generally required to be a defenseman in Pittsburgh.
His puck management and positioning are in dire need of immediate improvement, however.
Long-term, Matheson’s contract — which has the sixth-largest salary cap hit on the Penguins — will have a no-movement clause that kicks in after the 2020-21 season. That means Matheson is eligible to be selected in the upcoming expansion draft this summer. The Penguins could mimic what they did in the 2017 expansion draft and convince the Seattle Kraken to select Matheson by sending a future asset, such as a draft pick or prospect, to sway general manager Ron Francis to take on Matheson’s contract.
That, of course, would be contingent on Matheson finally realizing some of his potential this upcoming season.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.