TRADE: Hornqvist to Florida for Matheson and Sceviour
By Austin Shaw
The closest thing the Pittsburgh Penguins has to an enforcer has been traded. Patric Hornqvist is headed to one of the most irrelevant teams in the NHL, The Florida Panthers in return for Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour. Originally the rumor was, Hornqvist for Matheson and Penguins would save a small 500K in cap. Sceviour come in with an AAV (Average Annual Value) of 1.2M. This trade doesn’t free up any space at all. Luckily for Hornqvist though, no state tax in Florida so he’s gonna be rolling in a little more dough.
So who is Mike Matheson? The only one who really matters in this trade. First of all, he’s a left handed defenseman. He was the 23rd pick in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers out of the USHL. He opted to play college hockey at Boston College for three years where he averaged just over 0.6 points per game. He then played in the AHL for just over a year before getting the call to the NHL in 2015.
Matheson has played 299 NHL games, all for the Panthers. He averages 0.3 points per game which equals to about 25 points per season. That is a little above average for a d-man. But, in Florida Matheson’s role was a hybrid defenseman. Basically, he was used to add offense even though he was on defense.
So, 25 points as a hybrid d-man really isn’t that impressive. But, he is young and coming to a new team. Now what this trade now adds more fuel to the fire, is the rumor of Justin Schultz being moved. It seems that GMJR is looking for Matheson to assume Schultz’s role. That could be a good thing.
As for Sceviour, I’m not exactly sure he will be sticking around. He seems to be another Pearson, Rodriquez type guy. At 31, he’s a fourth line right wing. He has 141 points in 454 NHL games. Am I counting this guy out before he gets here? Yes, 100%. I’d much rather be proved wrong rather than say this guy is going to be good. Honestly, I don’t think he will bring anything to this Penguins lineup.
There is still a lot that could happen between now and the start of the next season which Commissioner Gary Bettman said wouldn’t be until late December.
Who else will go? Murray? Schultz? Letang? Rust? We’re going to have to wait and see what GMJR does next.
Comon.
COMON Network 