After a strong 2024-25 season, the Montreal Canadiens will be looking to continue to head in the right direction in 2025-26. There is certainly reason to be optimistic about the Habs, as they have plenty of promising young players and also made some strong additions this summer.
However, when looking at their roster, it is clear that one of their veteran defensemen is an X-factor to watch heading into the 2025-26 campaign: Mike Matheson.
While the Canadiens have reigning Calder Memorial Trophy winner Lane Hutson and added star defenseman Noah Dobson this summer, Matheson should not be ignored. If the 31-year-old regains his top form in 2025-26, it would only make the Canadiens' blueline even more challenging to go up against.
During this past season with the Canadiens, Matheson recorded six goals, 25 assists, and 31 points in 80 games. Overall, the left-shot defenseman gave the Canadiens decent offense from the point, but he has shown in recent previous years that he is capable of producing even more when playing at his best.
Just back in 2023-24 with the Canadiens, Matheson scored 11 goals and set career highs with 51 assists and 62 points in 82 games. This was after he had eight goals and 34 points in just 48 games during his first season with Montreal in 2022-23. If Matheson gets his offense back up, it would be huge for a Canadiens club looking to prove that they can be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. It will be interesting to see if he can do just that from here.