It goes beyond the fact the 41-year-old Burlington native, who begins his first full season at the helm of the Sudbury Wolves this time next month, can be comfortably classified within the "new wave" of coaches, gentlemen not the least bit concerned in thinking outside the box.
Engaging, articulate, at times quite pensive, Matsos unveils a host of fascinating layers. Starting with the route he took, from player to coach.
'Never really though about coaching'
"I never really thought about coaching as an option," said Matsos, whose playing days were cut short by a neck injury that has kept him out of even the most casual game of shinny since the age of 32.
"I was always one of those guys who would try and do something in the summers to prepare myself for life after hockey," he said.
Obtaining his Canadian Securities Course designation, no easy feat in itself, Matsos spent two summers with Nesbitt Burns.
He moved on to secure his real estate license, but found his true passion (other than coaching), in masonry.
"In the end, the thing that I ended up doing and loving the most was my apprenticeship in masonry work. I was preparing for life after hockey, doing something else."
In fact, Matsos turned down the first offer he received to coach a team in England.
"Management and me were like oil and water," Matsos said. "The masonry guy I worked for was a real good guy to work for, and I felt I would be happier."
One suspects that Matsos has never lost the appreciation that comes with putting in a solid day's work, that much more challenging within the realm of manual labour. Thankfully, the door to a coaching career had not closed completely.
Later that same summer, the Sheffield Steelers came calling. For Matsos, the fit seemed right. And in retrospect, perhaps he was fulfilling his destiny.
"There were little hidden messages, I think, from me to my coaches," he said.
Playing with the Canadian National Team from 1994 to 1996, Matsos was exposed to the teachings of Tom Renney and current Pittsburgh Penguins' coach Mike Johnston.
"They are two great hockey minds and unbelievable mentors," said Matsos. "I went in one day and asked if I could get a copy of their practice and playbooks. I was probably 23 or 24 at the time."
Over the years, he absorbed every tangible piece of hockey knowledge, starting with the three years he spent with the Soo Greyhounds, under the stewardship of Ted Nolan and Danny Flynn.
"It would probably be easier for me to tell you the coaches I got nothing out of, because I was really fortunate," stated Matsos.
"I've truly been blessed in being able to get so much out of the people who have taught me."
A coach from the new school
All of which, to no surprise, has influenced the man who begins the painful process of taking the franchise-worst team in the history of the Sudbury Wolves, and moving them along the path to success.
His vision is clear.
"These days, you see less and less of the hard-ass guys," he said. "It's a game of chess now. You have to be on the tactical side, you have to be dialed in to your computer, watching video constantly. If you're not pre-scouting teams and breaking their systems down to give your kids the best chance, then the other team has got the edge.
"I'm not really a yeller and a screamer, unless it has to be done," Matsos added. "I'm not afraid to do it, but I believe that there is no need to embarrass anybody, whether it's in the pros, or with the young guys. We're all human. We all make mistakes."
After spending four years with athletes who had often already experienced the minor professional ranks, coaching in Europe, Matsos shifted his sights to the junior ranks, working alongside Bob Boughner, Bobby Jones and company with the Windsor Spitfires.
"The biggest thing I noticed is that the guys I was signing over there had gone through and adjusted to different styles of coaches, and adjusted to being beaten down and picked back up," said Matsos. "In junior hockey, you're getting a clean slate, a raw athlete."
The ability to work with that very basic foundation of hockey talent became even more critical as the Wolves management opted not only to jettison their high-end older talent in 2014-2015, trading the likes of Mathew Campagna, Nick Baptiste and Nathan Pancel, but also fired head coach Paul Fixter in the new year, handing over the reins to Matsos.
"I learned how to remain positive in a real tough environment," said the Memorial Cup champion (1993).
And that he did, taking every opportunity to ensure that his young troops would battle in the face of far more talented foes.
"For a long time last year, these guys didn't have a lot to play for, but they battled right to the last period of that 68th game, and played hard," said Matsos. "For me, the fact that all the guys went out of here excited about coming back next year is really a big thing."
Short-term pain for long-term gain became the mantra, spoken or not.
"If you look at the '98s last year, there were very few that played a lot in our league. We were quietly seeing (Brady) Pataki, (Michael) Pezzetta, (Reagan) O'Grady, (Trenton) Bourque playing more minutes than they should have played. But the plan was that our 1998s are coming back closer to 17-and-a-half-year-olds."
"It was a ton of talking with them, a ton of shift tapes, a ton of positive and negative feedback on shift tapes. It's never about coming down on them. It's really teaching clips. With our young guys, the fact that they played so much last year is going to benefit our club in a major way."
Keeping it upbeat
Keeping things upbeat meant taking a different path of motivation.
"Rather than focusing on the scoreboard, we focused on 50," said Matsos. "It wasn't about winning, it wasn't about the scoreline. If we could get, between blocked shots and hits combined, to the number 50, we would be in games.
"It changed the mentality to focus on things that we were capable of doing."
If the in-house stats offered by Matsos are accurate, and there really is no good reason not to take them at face value, the same Wolves team that averaged 22.61 scoring chances surrendered over the course of the first 34 games last year, closed off the second half by dropping that number down to 16 flat.
"I'm a believer that I want our team to be a good possession team," said Matsos. "I want us to have the puck. In saying that, in order for us to win, our D-zone coverage and that area has to be a main focus. But I think the two go hand in hand.
"If you play good defensively, then you're going to get puck possession back."
Getting a sense of hockey analytics and "Corsi" stats at this point? Matsos pulls no punches.
"I think it's important, as a coach, that you have to accept any little bits of information that come at you," he said. "How you decide to filtre and use it or not is going to be different for every coach. The more information that gets put in front of you, the better understanding you will have as to why things are the way they are."
Spoken like a man who has made a habit of observing, analyzing and processing much of what happens around him. Even if not completely in a traditional "hockey coach" type of way.
