Quote:
Originally Posted by Stanley
IMO, sending him back down would simply be sending the wrong message, so far he's at least earned the right to play at this level. He's not the type of player that will regress by not going back to dominate junior - it's obvious he's NHL ready, with some rookie/junior mistakes in his game to iron out but man, I just don't see the advantage to either side by sending him down, unless he clearly demonstrates that he struggles to keep up physically.
Obviously his pace is bound to slow down, and he might find struggles throughout the year to keep up thru an 82-game season at this level, but I just don't see how you send this kid back down at this point. Sure, it's not like his goals are power-forward goals, he's had gifts/tap-ins but still...he's NHL ready, anything else IMO would be a counter-progressive.
But I guess I understand that even with his great start, some may feel he would progress better by be the go-to-guy in junior again, play big minutes, etc, etc...I dunno, I think he can handle significant (perhaps a bit sheltered) ice-time and grow at the NHL level.
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I agree and I would add two questions for folks that think he should be sent down:
Who has been a better player on the Flames through 5 games?
What will he learn or develop in the OHL?
Monahan dominated last year in Junior, so more of the same is not going to help him. Yes, he will go through ups and downs during the course of ~77 more games, but he'll learn more with the big club and he'll get through it.