Florida Panthers: Highlighting the Improvement of Mike Matheson

Even though Mike Matheson has had a rough season, it seems as if he’s finally found his game and it’s showing in his recent play.

Ever since Mike Matheson was drafted in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, he’s been known as one of the defenders of the future for the Florida Panthers.

In this category, he’s also in the same conversations with guys like Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, and others of Florida’s top defensemen.

To start his career, he would have to step into an unfamiliar role in 2016, as the Cats were in the middle of a playoff run.

In the following season, he was set to have his first full campaign in the big leagues for the 2016-17 season.

As the year was in full swing for Matheson, he had a rocky start before starting to get used to the ins and outs of the league. Once the year concluded, he finished decently on the offensive end and was ready to improve his game further.

The next year didn’t show any signs of improvement; his level of play didn’t move into any direction, as his development continued to stall, not getting better nor worse.

After the Panthers had their incredible second-half horse race to miss the playoffs by a single point, most thought that Matheson was due for a breakout. But according to most of the fanbase, Matheson only got worse from that point.

When the 2018-19 season came around, this was the year that everything was supposed to look up for the young Canadian.

He was supposed to continue his development into the solid, speedy defenseman that everyone expected him to be. But as he showed quick signs of regression, an incident occurred that most thought got in the way.

In just the third game of the season, Matheson wrestled down Canucks star forward: Elias Pettersson. The NHL Department of Player Safety took action and suspended Michael for two games. Once he returned to the lineup, to make it brief: his play got ugly.

It seemed that when he came back to the ice for the Panthers, it was like Matheson was scared to be punished.

It was as if you took a tripping penalty and then stopped defending or taking your assigned man altogether. He was afraid to hit, make plays, and his mental game just full on collapsed.

Everywhere left and right he was turning the puck over to the opposition, only to have the puck enter his own goal in result.

A perfect example of this comes from a home meeting against the Montreal Canadiens where Matheson simply gave the puck to Brendan Gallagher, who easily put the puck over the glove of James Reimer to cut the Panthers’ lead in half.

This is one of many instances where Matheson would just have a random blunder while he has possession of the puck.

As the season continued, Matheson suddenly suffered a lower-body injury, keeping him out for four games. Most Panther fans have said throughout the season that all he needed was some rest, so he could regroup mentally and watch the team play from up top.

If he could take a week or two to relax, he could calm down and really get back to form and become the player he was destined to be. As of late, that’s exactly what has happened.

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Since he returned to the lineup, he’s done just that for the team. It seems as if a whole different player has come into the locker room, like the Cats had just made a big move at the deadline.

Matheson has improved his puck control and has really tightened up defensively, improving his game all around. But what has to be the most surprising is what he’s done up front.

Even if it doesn’t show completely on the stat sheet, Matheson’s recent improvement in his offensive game only solidifies his increase in confidence.

In the most recent games against the Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings, he continues to jump up in the play and contribute to the outburst of goals the Panthers have seen in the past few games. He even scored two goals against the Wild this past Friday.

After the suspension he received early on, Matheson had a long stretch of games where he struggled in all areas of the ice. Whether it was offensively or defensively, it seemed as if he couldn’t catch a break.

But after taking a short rest with an injury, it seems as if he became a different person, turning the page and trying to erase the past from everyone’s memory.

At the pace he’s playing at right now, he can only get better. With only a handful of games remaining until the end of the season, we hope that Matheson can continue to show signs of improvement on a consistent basis.