Matheson: 'Almost surreal' to join hometown Canadiens

Mike Matheson, the former Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman and Montreal native who was traded to the Canadiens on Saturday, addressed the media for the first time on Monday. 

"It's been a big whirlwind - I gotta say I didn't see any sort of trade coming but when [it] did, to hear that it was Montreal it was pretty special," said Matheson, who appeared on a Zoom Call with Canadiens reporters.  "I grew up in Montreal, in the West Island, and learned to play hockey watching Montreal Canadiens games and was a huge fan."

Continuing to reminisce, Matheson added "our whole family would sit down and watch every game so to think I get to pull on that sweater and play in the Bell Centre every night is really special, it's a crazy feeling and it is pretty hard to describe, almost surreal."

The 28-year-old Matheson, who was drafted in 2012 by the Florida Panthers and was traded to the Penguins in 2020, is hoping a career revival that started in Pittsburgh last season after a couple difficult seasons in Florida can continue in Montreal now.

"I wasn't playing up to expectations and was getting very frustrated with myself [in Florida]," said Matheson. "Once I got to Pittsburgh I was able to settle in to a different system where I was given an opportunity to skate a little bit more and use my skating to be up in the opposing player's faces a little bit more instead of sitting back."

"I think when I'm sitting back that's not when I'm using my strengths," he said.

"Defensively I like having a tight gap and using my skating to make it difficult for players to be coming through the neutral zone so I think I had more success in Pittsbugh because of that and definitely want to carry that over to Montreal here, and continue to improve. I have a lot of growing to do and I'm excited for the challenge."

The Canadiens finished last season in the bottom spot in the league, which allowed them to draft Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in this year's draft. They're entering this season with a largely-revamped roster, after trading away captain Shea Weber, veteran Jeff Petry and trading for youngster Kirby Dach.

This presents a new opportunity for Matheson, who is entering his  eighth season in the NHL, to take on more of a leadership role in a locker room full of younger players. 

"The last couple of years in Pittsburgh I had been in the league for a while but I was still looking up to guys like Sid [Crosby], Kris [Letang] and Geno [Evgeni Malkin], as guys that had been through so much more than I had been and watching them every day, what they do, their habits, what it was like winning the cup, what the locker room was like, what led to those sorts of things coming together."

"Hopefully I can now pass that on - the culture they built there in Pittsburgh was special and that's what it takes to win in this league - I'm not saying that I'm going to be Sid or Kris or Geno to the younger players in Montreal," Matheson added. "They're a good step up above what I am, but if I can do anything to help them and learn from maybe the things I did early in my career then that's great."

The Montreal native is aware of the coming difficult road to getting the Canadiens back in the playoffs, but he knows he has the experience to help push the team through it all the same. 

"It's not going to be perfect every night and there's going to be some tough times still ahead," Matheson said. "But I think with the tough times that I've been through it'll help me continue to grow and hopefully become an even better product of what I am right now."

"Just the opportunity to play in Montreal is really special."