Marc Methot entered the 2013-14 season with big shoes to fill…his own. In his first (sort of) full season in the uniform of his hometown team, he exceeded expectations to the point where he was invited to the summer orientation camp for the Canadian Olympic team last summer.
Methot still had a solid season, but perhaps the lofty expectations made it seem like he had taken a step back. In 75 games for the Senators, he set career highs in all offensive categories and also finished with an even +/- rating. However, he was seemingly constantly with a new defense partner, starting out with Erik Karlsson, switching to Eric Gryba before eventually re-teaming with Karlsson as the team looked for the pairings that would work to heal the illnesses that were the Ottawa defensive zone.
HIGHS
- Set career highs in goals (6), assists (17) and points (23)
- Was invited (and accepted) to play for Team Canada at the World Championships
- Methot’s hipchecks claimed a few more victims in Sidney Crosby, Mikael Granlund and Nick Foligno
LOWS
- Was forced to miss the World Championships with a back injury
CONTRACT STATUS
Marc Methot will make $3.75M in this, the last year on his current contract. His cap hit is $3M. He will be an unrestricted free agent after next season if he doesn’t sign an extension.
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PROGNOSIS
Methot had a solid season, but didn’t necessarily improve over the 2013 season. The defensive zone was a fire drill on most nights and there wasn’t much he did to quell that as a veteran defensive presence. It will be interesting to see how the Senators come out and handle their own zone in the new season, and what role Methot will play in that.
GRADE: C : Marc Methot was just kind of “there”. He didn’t do much spectacular, but on most nights he was pretty solid although he got caught in the whirlwind on occasion.