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