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Originally Posted by IgiTang
So what exactly is Monahan bad at?
I think he's a fine skater. Sure he's not the faster Center, but certainly not the slowest and I'm speaking of #1 Centers. Nobody will ever accuse Jonathan Toews of being an elite skater.
He certainly is not a defensive liability, in fact he's as good if not better than Bergeron was at his age.
Monahan is certainly becoming a much better face-off man and usually takes most of his draws against some of the best in the world.
So... what is he not very good at? Starting a season with a back injury and missing training camp? Sure,I'll buy that.
Edit: Tyler Bozak was talking to the media the other day about Freddie Andersen and his bad start and was saying that people are getting on Andersen 3 games into the season... basically saying people need to get a grip.. this situation is no different. Quite frankly it's embarrassing.
It's right up there with Edmonton shinanigans and how the Canucks were actually a good team 4 games into the season..
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Monahan is bad at protecting the puck, not giving the puck away, winning board battles, anticipating plays defensively, taking the puck away when defending a puck carrier (although I've seen some improvement in his defensive stick-work this season) and his passing game is underwhelming.
On the other hand he is great at finding the right spot in the offensive zone to receive a pass or deposit a rebound, and possesses a very good release. Like you said he is also improving in the dot, which helps a bit. To summarize, he is pretty bad individually at generating chances and preventing scoring chances against. He is very good at finishing plays. With his current game he thrives in an offensive role being set up by great playmakers, but he can't really carry the load in terms of driving play up-ice.
That means that he would get buried if he got more defensive starts and/or played against tougher opponents, which you can find many vivid examples of just watching game replays. It's often Monahan's line on the ice when the Flames get stuck in their own end for like 2 minutes and end up getting scored on.
Your Bergeron comparison is bizarre, as he has been one of the absolute best two-way centers in the world for a long time. I guess the comparable point in their careers would be around 08-09 or 09-10, when Bergeron was already among the league's best in generating scoring chances and suppressing opponents, and a huge reason for why the Bruins were dominant in the regular season. I don't know how any of this relates to Monahan or his defensive game.
Another thing to note is that your Andersen example is actually pretty interesting in this context since deeper analysis suggested that his high-danger SV% for Anaheim was actually pretty bad compared to how highly he was rated by many. Kind of the opposite situation compared to a guy like Brian Elliott who performed great on high-danger chances, even though many believed he was being merely being sheltered by the supposed excellent defense in STL.
Andersen is better than his abysmal start indicated, but he has never shown that he is an elite goaltender either.