Canadiens Clear Winners In Mike Matheson and Jeff Petry Trade

The 2022-23 season is over for the Montreal Canadiens, which gives us a perfect opportunity to judge some of the trades made by general manager Kent Hughes.

And though Hughes has already pulled off a fair amount of impressive deals, including turning Alexander Romanov into Kirby Dach, as well as getting paid a first-round pick to acquire Sean Monahan for free, there’s one trade in particular that may end up playing the biggest part in the rebuild: acquiring Mike Matheson in exchange for Jeff Petry.

The Details

The deal between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Canadiens was not a one-for-one trade

The Penguins ponied up an extra fourth-round pick (2023), and in exchange, the Canadiens added struggling prospect Ryan Poehling to the deal.

With seven goals and seven assists in 53 games for the Penguins, it’s safe to say the Canadiens did not risk much when they unceremoniously traded their 2017 first-round pick. Poehling’s underlying numbers continue to be middling at best, which is rather concerning because he’s supposed to be in the midst of his statistical prime.

As for the financials, the Canadiens made out like bandits.

Not only did they acquire the best player in the trade, more on that later, but they also opened up $2.125 million in salary cap space, which enabled them to absorb Monahan’s contract, and consequently, add another first-round pick to their rebuilding cupboard.

By  The Numbers

Petry did not leave the Canadiens organization on the best of terms, which only adds to Hughes’ win in this trade, considering the rookie general manager did not have very much leverage to work with.

And it also made Canadiens fans quickly forget just how dominant Petry had played for the better part of a decade.

Or perhaps it was Matheson that erased the memories, seeing as he jumped into the lineup and rapidly took over Petry’s marching orders, which involve playing an ungodly amount of ice time every night, in every situation.

Despite only featuring in 48 games, Matheson led all Canadiens defencemen in goals, assists, points, and shots at 5v5.

It’s also worth noting he finished with nine powerplay points, seven of which were primary assists, leaving him one point short of Cole Caufield’s powerplay production this season.

Matheson dangles through the Panthers PK and tees up Rem Pitlick for a power play goal.

9-5 in Sunrise right now. pic.twitter.com/Je8zl3VWKW

— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) March 17, 2023

Brass Tacks

He isn’t making the same type of impact as Petry when it comes to possession numbers, at least not yet. It’s worth keeping in mind Petry didn’t flourish until year two of his tenure with the Montreal Canadiens.

Matheson’s underlying numbers were relatively encouraging, especially since he was playing heavy minutes against top competition on a team that, frankly, was awful.

But when Matheson was on the ice, things were a little different.

Matheson, along with Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach, is an essential part of head coach Martin St-Louis’ ideal style of play, which puts an onus on creativity and good offensive instincts, two things Matheson has in spades.

Mike Matheson just out for a rip, and teaches Marc Staal a harsh lesson. pic.twitter.com/ECzExFmdvg

— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) March 31, 2023

His quick emergence as the team’s best defenceman also allowed St-Louis to make life easier on the numerous rookies populating his blueline by following the advice of the Rolling Stones and giving them a little more shelter.

However, the most important acquisition in the trade comes down to Matheson and Petry’s values as hockey assets.

At 35 years old, Petry is still doing a good job of defying father time, but his best years are clearly behind him, whereas Matheson, 29, shouldn’t see a significant decline in his results for another few seasons.

Simply put, Matheson is younger, faster, cheaper, and produced more points playing on a team that suffered roughly seven thousand injuries than Petry did on a team that features Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

There’s no doubt about it, the trade was a clear-cut win for Hughes and the Canadiens.

All that’s left to calculate is exactly how badly Hughes swindled Ron Hextall, but for that, we’ll need to wait another few years, because Matheson and the Canadiens are still running up the score.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via NaturalStatTrick.