Canadiens sign veteran defenseman Mike Matheson to a 5-year, $30 million contract extension

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Montreal Canadiens signed defenseman Mike Matheson to a five-year, $30-million contract extension on Friday.

The new deal, which the team announced before its game at Las Vegas, kicks in for the start of next season and runs through 2030-31.

The 31-year-old Matheson is an 11-year NHL veteran. He’s in his fourth season with Montreal and has four goals and 10 assists in 22 games. He also leads the team and ranks 10th in the NHL by averaging 24 minutes, 50 seconds of ice time per game.

He was acquired along with a 2023 fourth-round pick by Montreal in a trade that sent Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling to Pittsburgh in July 2022.

At 6-foot-2 and 196 pounds, Matheson had a career-best 62 points (11 goals, 51 assists) in 2023-24. He’s since shifted to more of a defensive role in Montreal, where he’s regularly matched up against the opponent’s top lines.

Matheson was selected in the first round of the 2012 draft by Florida, and spent his first five NHL seasons with the Panthers before spending two seasons with Pittsburgh.

Overall, he has 78 goals and 279 points in 649 career games.

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