A: No. Sam’s of really good character. He’s coming off a disappointing season from our perspective and his perspective, but I’m certainly not discounting the effect of the slash to the face and the broken jaw at the start. He missed training camp and a month of the season. He came back quickly. We were in such a poor state that he really felt the need to come back and turn things around. He had a hard time recovering from it, which is understandable. We fully expect he’ll have a bounce-back year. Players normally do. He had such a good lockout year.

Q: Don’t you have to trade solid pieces of your team to get help in other areas? Can you get that in the unrestricted free-agent (UFA) marketplace?

A: We need somebody who’ll go north-south with the puck from the back end. We need defence that can move the puck better. That’s a priority, but there’s not much of that in the UFA market. Historically, a big percentage of those signings in the UFA season are poor anyway. You’re often better sticking with your own guys, guys you know. You have to do your homework with free agency. Hopefully, we make some good decisions. We are going to target some people. We’d like a third-pairing defenceman who can block shots and kill penalties. A Mark Fraser-type guy.

Q: Do you need a first-pairing defenceman, through a trade or free-agent signing, who can play with [Justin] Schultz? Like a left-handed Dan Girardi? That would be ideal right? Or a Brent Seabrook?

A: I can’t mention any names. I think Justin has enough game. He’s not too needy out there.

Matheson continues in equally blunt terms...