Mike Matheson came here a year ago as a reclamation project, a guy whose enormous promise had been overwhelmed by on-ice problems.
The exceptional speed and skill he routinely showed during his first two full seasons in the NHL convinced the Panthers that Matheson could be a foundation piece as they tried to build a Stanley Cup contender -- and they proved it by giving him an eight-year, $39 million contract.
Seemed like a reasonable investment in a guy who had the potential to be a difference-maker.
And who, for that matter, proved to be one.
Just not in a positive way.
So after two mostly miserable seasons when his new deal kicked in, Florida sent Matheson and Colton Sceviour to the Penguins for Patric Hornqvist.
The Panthers got a guy who provided a good net-front presence and great intangibles; Matheson got an opportunity resurrect a career that had been threatening to disappear into the muck of the Everglades.
"I was really hoping to be able to come in and have an impact right away," Matheson said Thursday. "Earn the respect of my teammates and coaches and the fans."
It worked.
Oh, there was the occasional hiccup, like an ill-conceived pass or perplexing decision, but also more than a few flashes of offensive excellence, sequences during which Matheson would go end-to-end so fast that his shadow probably had trouble keeping up.
He was, in some ways, like Paul Coffey Lite, at both ends of the ice. Not quite as fast or gifted as Coffey -- really, how many defensemen have been? -- but not having many Coffey-caliber misadventures in his own end. The kind that result not only in a goal-against, but in his goaltender requiring psychotherapy.
Matheson finished with five goals and 11 assists in 44 regular-season games. And, in the process, restored his belief in his own abilities which, in turn, elevated his expectations for the seasons to come.
"I just continued to get more and more comfortable, to get back to playing the way I think I'm capable of playing," he said. "Toward the end of the year, I was playing the best hockey that I've played in a couple of years. Obviously, I feel like I've got a lot more to give, but I feel like I've gotten back on track a little bit, compared to the season before in Florida."
His bounce-back season was shaped, in part, by a couple of factors that, at first blush, likely struck at least some as potential setbacks.
An injury in the second game of the season that forced him out of the lineup the next eight had an unexpected benefit -- "I think it was good to just sit and watch the team and learn the system from a different point of view," he said -- and a partnership with Cody Ceci worked out well for all concerned.
They meshed well enough to be promoted from the No. 3 pairing to No. 2, Matheson got his game back in order and Ceci performed so well that Edmonton gave him a four-year, $13 million contract just one year after Jim Rutherford had signed him for $1.25 million -- and gotten skewered by critics who were convinced that if Ceci had been charged with impersonating an NHL defenseman during his time in Toronto, he would have been found innocent on all counts.
"Our games complemented each other really well," Matheson said. "We had a good relationship, too. It's not like we were absolute best buddies and attached at the hip or anything like that, but we just got along really well and understood each other's games. Started getting used to where each other was, on the ice. We communicated well on the ice, and were able to read off each other."
Who the coaching staff will graft onto Matheson's right side during training camp isn't known -- promoting John Marino from the third pairing would seem to be a possibility -- and if Matheson has a preference, he isn't letting on.
"That decision's a little above my pay grade," he said. "I'm excited to get into training camp and start building chemistry with whoever that might be. All of our right-hand-shot defensemen have great qualities in their game that I'd love to be on the ice with. My job is to just be a support system for those qualities."
Ideally, a pairing works to the advantage of both members, but Matheson's ability to get involved in the offense makes it particularly important that he be alongside someone who is reliable and responsible defensively, much like the role Brian Dumoulin fills with Kris Letang on the top pairing.
Ceci did that, and it was a major factor in Matheson altering his career trajectory. But for all the steps orward he took in 2020-21, Matheson is adamant that, at age 27, he has not reached his personal ceiling.
"My all-around game was just a lot more solid and a lot more trustworthy toward the end of the season and into the playoffs," he said. "In the playoffs, I wasn't getting on the scoreboard or anything like that, so that's an area I would have liked to have had more impact in, but overall, compared to the season before -- whether it was puck decisions, my defensive-zone coverage, coverage off the rush, decisions at the offensive blue line, when to pinch and when to stay out, my gaps through the neutral zone -- they were all a lot more solid.
"I was happy to get back to that point, where I was a much more trustworthy player. I'm hoping that this year, I can start off on that foot and continue to get better, because I feel like I have more to give than I was showing last year. ... It was a good step. It wasn't a finished product, by any means."
Nor, he said, is the Penguins' run as a Stanley Cup contender over, even though their six-game loss to the Islanders in Round 1 was their fourth consecutive defeat in a playoff series.
"We have a great team and have a lot of unfinished business after last season," he said. "We finished first in the division, then played a really good team in the first round. ... There are a lot of good teams that don't end up winning (the Cup), and I feel like we were one of them. But I feel like we still have the ability to get back there."