Penguins GM praises new Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson

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The Pittsburgh Penguins wanted to grow defensively and improve their transition game after losing to the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs last season.

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The Penguins-Rangers best-of-seven series went all the way with Pittsburgh losing 4-3 in overtime in Game 7. It marked the fourth straight season the Penguins had failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs and their players star are ‘I’m not getting any younger.

Sidney Crosby will turn 35 on August 7, Kris Letang is already 35 and Evgeni Malkin will be 36 on July 31.

On Saturday, the Penguins looked to improve their situation by acquiring defenseman Jeff Petry and forward Ryan Poehling from the Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Mike Matheson and a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Earlier in the day, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall acquired defenseman Ty Smith from the New Jersey Devils along with a third-round pick in next year’s NHL Draft in exchange for defenseman John Marino.

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The Penguins have only gotten past the first round of the playoffs once since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 and their window to win another championship is closing.

“First of all, when you’re trading for good players, you’re going to have to give up good players.” Hextall said on the Penguins website about the Petry trade. “Mike is a good player. We certainly value Mike. But we feel like Jeff right now is a little bit better for us. He can play in all situations; he can record big minutes.

“We just feel right now, our right side, it’s extremely strong,” Hextall added. “We felt pretty good with our right side, and when you get the opportunity to add a player of the magnitude of Jeff Petry, we felt like he was a good fit for our group.”

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Petry, 34, had asked the Canadiens for a trade last season for family reasons after his wife grew frustrated with Quebec’s COVID-19 restrictions and returned to the family home in Michigan with their three children while he was also away. pregnant with a fourth child, who was born last Monday.

Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes wasn’t about to eat any of Petry’s contract, which has three seasons left with a $6.25 million annual salary cap, and also wanted a veteran defenseman to replace Petry. Matheson, 28, has seven years of NHL experience and has four seasons left on his contract with an annual salary cap of $4.875 million.

“Our guys worked really hard last year once Marty (St. Louis) came on board (as head coach) to try and salvage the season and we think it was important to give them a chance to step up as a group this year.” Hughes said during a videoconference after the exchange. “Again, I don’t think we’re believing that we’re going to compete for a Stanley Cup. We know that, but we want to have the ability to compete every night.”

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Hughes thinks the Canadiens have a better chance to do that with three veteran defensemen: Matheson, David Savard and Joel Edmundson. The Canadiens have three young defensemen who could be ready to play regularly in the NHL next season: Justin Barron, Jordan Harris and Kaiden Guhle. Hughes also recently signed Chris Wideman to a two-year, $1.525 million contract as an insurance policy.

Matheson was selected by Florida in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft and was signed by the Panthers to an eight-year, $39 million contract after his first full season in the league. Hughes was an agent for Matheson before becoming the Canadiens’ general manager in January.

“Mike is a player who has always had a lot of potential,” Hughes said of Matheson, who set career highs in goals and points last season when he posted totals of 11-20-31 in 74 games with the Penguins. “I know in his time (former Panthers general manager) Dale Tallon thought he would become the Duncan Keith in Florida because of his skating.”

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The Panthers traded Matheson to the Penguins on September 24, 2020, along with forward Colton Sceviour, in exchange for forward Patric Hornqvist.

“I think Mike’s time in Florida was marked by success and probably some challenges as well,” Hughes said. “And then when he got into an environment (in Pittsburgh) that I think was more conducive to him, we really started to see how his game worked. I had a long talk with Kris Letang before we did this exchange. Kris was disappointed to see him go, but very, very positive in terms of who Mike is and what he could be as a hockey player.”

Hughes was also Letang’s agent before becoming general manager of the Canadiens.

As for Poehling, he’ll get a fresh start in Pittsburgh after battling for a regular spot with the Canadiens, who selected him in the first round (25th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft.

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“Sometimes change can spur a guy on, and hopefully he can be a good two-way player for us,” Hextall said of the 23-year-old Poehling. “He has good size. He plays in the middle of the ice and can also play out wide. So we feel pretty good about the acquisition. You look at our salary cap, he’s another guy that we can fit under the salary cap.”

Poehling has one year left on his contract with a salary cap of $750,000.

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