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Points for a Habs defenseman: Mike Matheson on track for historic season

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Points for a Habs defenseman: Mike Matheson on track for historic season
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot

Over the past few weeks, the Habs’ first trio has been the talk of the town. After all, whether it’s Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovský or Cole Caufield, they’re clearly the three engines of the Tricolore’s attack right now.

And it’s not particularly close, either.

That said, there’s one player in the shadows: Mike Matheson. The defenseman has 41 points in 55 games this season, sitting comfortably in third place on the Habs. Juraj Slafkovský (30 points) could overtake him, but with Brendan Gallagher and his 16 points in fifth place, Matheson is pretty much assured of finishing in the club’s top-4.

Compared to the rest of the NHL, he ranks 11th in the league in points this season, ahead of Charlie McAvoy, Erik Karlsson, Josh Morrissey and Miro Heiskanen. Nothing less.

It gets interesting, however, when you compare Matheson to other defensemen in Canadiens history. It’s an exercise that Arpon Basu took part in, by the way.

As Basu notes, if Matheson keeps up the pace and plays 82 games, he’ll finish the season with 61 points. That would be excellent, and the 15th most productive season for a defenseman in club history.

By way of comparison, Andrei Markov has never scored more than 64 points in a single season. And with Matheson catching fire with the rest of the fourth trio recently (he has nine points in his last eight games), you’d think he’d have the potential to step up and match Markov’s mark.

P.K. Subban, on the other hand, has never scored more than 60 points in a single season in a Montreal uniform. And if Matheson were ever to reach Markov’s 64-point mark, only three defensemen in the club’s history would have had a more productive season than him: Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and Chris Chelios.

All three players have combined for eight seasons of 65 points or more, but Matheson can still place himself among a hell of a lot of defensemen who have worn the blue-white-red.

(Credit: Screenshot/StatMuse)

Matheson isn’t being talked about much this season, yet he’s having a season that could see him join some of the great defenders in the club’s history.

And considering he’s doing it at a club that isn’t exactly, it’s even more impressive to see him produce like this.


Roundup

– Not to be missed.

– Michael Pezzetta tries to find a way to make himself indispensable as he prepares to play short-handed.

– Ouch.

– Unless he brings back a first-round pick (which I doubt), I have a hard time seeing the Habs trading him.

– It just doesn’t make sense.

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