Montreal Canadiens: Predicting Habs 2025-26 Defense Pairings
Who Is Out?
There are a couple of notable omissions from this list of defenders. First of all, Mike Matheson is still under contract for the 2025-26 season before becoming a free agent. He is the experienced veteran on the team now, and other players would have to take on that role quickly if Matheson were to be moved.
However, with the plethora of options on left defense, it makes the most sense to use Matheson to try and trade for a scoring forward, or to trade him for a handful of picks and prospects that could be flipped for a scoring forward.
He has put up a lot of points since joining the Canadiens, but will be 32 when his contract expires in 2026 and a pricey extension would not be a wise investment. Instead, trading him as soon as the summer of 2024 would give the Canadiens a big return they could parlay into filling a bigger need up front.
With Guhle, Hutson, Harris and Struble still there on the left side, the loss of Matheson could be absorbed by these young defenders growing into better players.
Arber Xhekaj is also not mentioned here as I just think it makes more sense to capitalize on his popularity around the league and get a big return for him when Struble is ready for a full time role. There is no rush to make such a trade, as Struble could spend more time in the minors to develop his two-way game.
With so many great young options to choose from, it will be interesting to see which defenders end up being traded from the Canadiens in the next year.
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