I raised this question to Craig Button in his Q&A today.
12:44
TSN Moderator:
A lot of Flames' fans are asking questions about the No. 6 pick, and they all have similar questions...here are two of the group of them. Wednesday June 5, 2013 12:44 TSN Moderator
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[Comment From Flames fan Flames fan: ]
A lot of people had Lindholm going ahead of Monahan. Why have you ranked Monahan higher?
Wednesday June 5, 2013 12:44 Flames fan
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[Comment From Matt Matt: ]
Hey Craig, With the Flames hopefully looking to address their center position at #6, Where do you see the difference between Monahan and Lindholm? While Monahan does have a few inches on Elias, I am worried his size advantage in the OHL may not translate as well into the NHL, while Lindholm has proved his two way play in the SEL against men.
Wednesday June 5, 2013 12:44 Matt
12:51
Craig Button:
I think Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm at the very least will be #2 centers in the NHL with the potential to be #1 centers. There is no discernible difference between the two players IMO. Both players are exceptionally smart and I think that is a pre-requisite for being a good center in the NHL. When I watch Krejci & Bergeron, I see that exceptional intelligence and while they are different, they are very strong players for the Bruins. Again, I'm not smart enough to say that Sean is clearly better than Elias or the other way around and leave that to the teams to make that decision. I say that because of this; "I am assessing players' NHL potential once they have matured (about 21-22) and teams have to look at how players fit into their particular organization and a lot of that is done when they meet and spend time with the players to understand how one player may potentially fit better than another based on all players in that teams' organization. It's an important step and one that I don't partake in. That is the fine line when you are talking about players in the same tier of talent IMO.