For a guy who doesn’t like the spotlight on him, Mike Matheson must have had one hell of a Thursday afternoon.
As he has done every year since his arrival with the Canadiens, Matheson visited a school as part of an event for the Champions for Life foundation, of which he is an ambassador.
The students at Westmount High were eagerly awaiting the Quebec defender. As soon as he arrived on the scene, he was greeted loudly by dozens of young people, some holding signs, others wearing CH jerseys.
The teachers were also ready. One of them addressed the youngsters with the charisma of a guru. “Leader-what?” he shouted. “Leadership,” the students responded in unison. This was, as you will have understood, the theme of the event.
Once on stage for a question-and-answer session, Matheson spilled the beans. “I’m here talking to you and I’m really not comfortable!” he said with a laugh.
Interesting words from a guy who is about to start his second season as assistant captain.
Leaders are generally divided into two categories: those with booming voices—think Mark Messier—who can tell off the lazy, and those who lead by example. Matheson falls into the latter category.
“Vocal leadership can be tiring for the group in the long run,” he reminded the youth in response to a question.
Except that one night last season, he had to speak. It was after a game where the Habs “practically gave up” in the third period. Without specifying which game, he indicated that the team was in the middle of a difficult sequence, “against good opponents.”
In short, Matheson didn’t appreciate his teammates giving up and he said it loud and clear. “My message was that this is not acceptable. Yes, we are rebuilding, we are young and we are being told that we are not supposed to make the playoffs.”
“But the only way to get there is if you believe you’re going to get there, and you go into every game believing you’re going to win. It’s not like one day someone’s going to hand you the keys and say, ‘Go ahead, it’s your turn to make the playoffs.’ So I felt like it was my duty to speak out. But I was out of my comfort zone!”
The doors open
Thursday’s event was a reminder of everything that has happened at Matheson since Kent Hughes acquired it in July 2022.
The most notable gain is obviously in the offensive chapter. With 96 points in 130 games since his arrival in Montreal, he comes in 16e ranks among NHL defensemen in points per game average (0.74).
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Mike Matheson
“When I was with the Panthers, I thought about it a lot. I wondered where my ceiling was,” Matheson said in a scrum. “The more I thought about it, the more pressure I put on myself. Now, I’m older and I understand it’s better to think about the smaller things, what my goal is every day, to reach those levels.”
But there’s everything else. His role as assistant captain to Nick Suzuki is another. It was the first time in his NHL career that he wore a letter permanently. Now he’s reached the status where he’s being questioned about how he’s going to coach the new generation of defensemen coming to town this season, Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher.
“It’s not easy to come into this league and be successful,” he wisely recalled.
It’s important that they understand that they’re here because they deserve it and it has nothing to do with me. So I have to be there when they need me, but I also have to let them flourish.
Mike Matheson on the new defenders joining the team this season
And more broadly, Matheson’s arrival in Montreal meant a much bigger role for him at home in a hockey-crazy city. In Florida, he was still young — he was 26 when the Panthers traded him — and playing in a market where hockey players were about as famous as a dairy clerk at the grocery store. In Pittsburgh, he was inevitably in the shadow of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kristopher Letang.
Matheson is now in the spotlight, hence his appearance at Kamala Harris and Leonard Cohen’s former high school on Thursday.
“My goal is to give back to the city where I grew up and that has given me so much. I hope I can make an impact. You will be the ones to tell me if I have had one. And as a father, I would like to encourage my children to get out of their comfort zone and do things they are not keen on. I would have no credibility if I didn’t do it myself.”
Matheson is now entering the penultimate year of his contract. Sooner or later, his bosses will have to decide whether they want to extend the association for a longer term, or whether it is time to coldly trade him while his value is high, because youngsters are capable of taking more.
If he does end up leaving, he will certainly have left his mark on the city.