Quote:
Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt
I think Sean is a touch overrated if anything. A lot of his points come from jiri and Johnny working magic. He got awesome beneficial starts in his rookie season. I'm worried we will pay him like a elite 1st line centre and he will turn out to be a 2nd line guy. I hope I'm wrong but I think he is exciting but doesn't have the elite ceiling like Johnny or Sam. He doesn't create on his own. He isn't physical. His skating is average. He drives the net very very well has a good release and keeps his stick on the ice. Good face offs for his age and also responsible defensively. The next toews? That's unfair to both parties to compare the 2.
Imho if Sean played on a line without jiri and Johnny who are two of the most creative passers in the nhl. They also have some of the best vision in the nhl. I like Sean but I think he will settle into a smaller role with us. 2nd line c with pp and ok time. Still a big role, just not elite 1st line centre.
Hope people don't think I'm bashing him. I'm from Brampton so I'd love to see him prove me wrong.
|
That is fair for the most part. However it is worth noting he is only going into his third season and we will likely see improvement over the next few years. He's already improved those things a great deal from his rookie season where he was barely ready for the NHL. The progress he's taken since then has been remarkable, but he still has some weaknesses obviously.
Sean's a very different type of player, it's very hard to find players to compare him with. Names like Francis, Toews and E.Staal are tossed around a lot, but I really see him only possessing elements of those player's games. He doesn't seem to have the high end playmaking ability of Francis, the physical play of Toews or the speed of Staal. What he may have over all of them is his ability to fill the net. He's looking more and more like a player who will score on around 15% of his shots, annually. Once he actually gets into his prime we may be talking about a 35-40 goal guy who possesses the 2-way game of a Selke candidate. If that happens, and Bennett is somehow just as good or better... my oh my. That could be Nieuwendyk and Gilmour all over again.
A lot of what makes/is going to make Sean great is his IQ. He just knows where to be and when to be there, at both ends of the ice. He doesn't need to drive the play or go all out the way some players do to be successful, but he probably should play with players like that. He plays a near-perfect positional game (for his age especially) and has some seriously silky mitts to compliment that. He's basically a ninja out there.
He might not be a flashy player, or one that brings people out of their seats but he'll be just as effective as one. He's more the guy who consistently pops in out of nowhere to snipe yet another goal while his linemates look like super heroes. He's also the guy who is the best defensive forward on the ice most of the time, freeing up a magician like Gaudreau to do his thing. It's hard to quantify Monahan's worth, but I think it's safe to say that he's one of the most deceptively skilled players in the game today. If hockey IQ were measurable, I honestly believe he would be in the top 10/15. If the rest of his game (speed, physicality, playmaking) improves measurably, we've got a superstar on our hands.