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Mike Matheson the target of unfair criticism from Habs fans | HI/O Bonus



Offensive defencemen tend to have a tough time in Montreal, says former Stanley Cup champion Rick Green.

17 Comments

  1. Why is it unfair? He is a liability defensively, he turns the puck over a lot, he is what he is, he is a great skater, with some offense from time to time, on good teams he is a 4 at best.

  2. It's partly Hugo's fault for not having a "Steady Eddie" Rick Green type D partner to back him up and cover for his mistakes.

    He is also playing too high up in the lineup like Savard was before.

  3. With respect, last 5 games he has -8 and zero points while Montreal had a -9 of goals scored/received. So almost each time we got a goal he was on the ice. He does many things that expose the defense. MSL even changed his D partner to Carrier who until that point was VERY reliable, but suddenly it`s our most exposed D pairing. Sure, he works hard and cares, but just caring is simply not enough, especially from the most experienced defenseman carrying the "A".

  4. I like Matheson he tries hard to make the Canadiens successful. I hope he continues to play hard for every game.

  5. I would trade mathison in the off season or at the trade deadline if the right deal comes along. He is a very poor defenseman so many times after someone scores on Montreal you see him standing there. Not doing anything. Doesn't check anybody is. Passes are terrible. His giveaways are terrible. Has a weak shot on gold that's so predictable. I would not want him on my team and he'd be gone for sure. I want some toughness on defense. A guy that can move players out of the from the front of the net mathison is too easy to score on. The only thing you can do is skate and then when he gets to where he's going he doesn't do anything

  6. Unfair how.

    His D was never a great asset, his skating and stick sure, I don’t criticize him for his defensive play, he is what he used to be and is only as good as his D partner .

    The problem is that for a long stretch now He has been killing offensive momentum, shots into shinguards, passes into skates, killing dangerous cycles in ozone due to poor decisions.

    The Jerseg game, people can blame Laine all they want for that pass, the puck touched Matheson’s stick, I guarantee you Hutson or Ghule even Arber would have received that puck

    What about getting the puck back, he was first to the puck after the pass failed, he then got outworked lost the puck and got outworjed again on the back check he got beat twice after missing that pass.

    I’m supposed to like him because he gets 1 or 3 breakaways a year.

    Wow big deal…

    How many does he give up by giving puck away at ozone blue line.

    If he starts contributing offensively or at least not costing offensive zone momentum, fine.

    But until then imma keep my opinions.

    Long term with Ghule and Huston as LD top 4 he is not a long term fit.

    Move him this year, offseason or next year deadline regardless move him to a team that needs a puck moving D

    Maybe to Vancouver

    Him and Tyler Myers deserve each other

    Chaos Giraffe

    Meet

    Chaos Gazelle

    What a pair that would be

  7. Stop it, it’s not ridiculous. You think we would be saying this stuff if he was innocent? He was responsible for 3 goals against versus the Jets and looked terrible against the Wild

  8. He gets too much ice time. Sure he is a really good hockey player but the Habs need defencemen to play their position

  9. There will always be idiot "rabid fans" that will throw everyone under the bus. Laine made a hard pass and it was slightly offline. Do recall Brisbois went to the Avs afterwards and did recall a pass from behind the net literally up the middle of the slot to an opposing forward (which didn't help). I still see idiots today that still don't acknowledge how good of a goalie Carey was. Even the Dallas Stars know Montreal is the "mecca of hockey" which also comes with more crazy fans than a certain team in the blueshirts.

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