Love the team speed... Definitely a huge asset this season. Brodie looks better every game and he is becoming one of those blueliners that can dictate the pace of the game with how poised he is with the pick and his awesome speed.
Loved the Monahan, baertschi, and stempniak line. Sean is going to be such a great player... You can really see what everyone means when they say his hockey IQ is off the charts. Not trying to get everyone's hopes up too high but his game reminds me a lot of toews as a rookie. In his rookie year, toews was one of those kids who did all the little things right and, most importantly, got better every game. I could see Monahan following the same path. Awesome to see him winning battles and making plays to the net against seasoned vets.
I think players like take hall and Tyler seguin have tons of skill and speed but their weaknesses are that they don't have the elite level hockey IQ of a giroux or toews. I'm excited that Monahan could one day be that kind of player. It might take some time and his ceiling might not be as high as those guys but I think he's got all the tools to be the perfect kind of franchise guy that's a winner.
|