Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Monahan ranks 14th in production among all NHL centres over the span of the past three seasons. I would accept that he is an average top line centre, but by every metric he is certainly better than "a lower-ended one."
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Although I don't dispute he is better then Horvat, looking at total points isn't the best way to evaluate production over a long time period. It ignores players like McDavid, Mathews, and Eichel who have recently broken into the league and ignores players like Stamkos that dealt with injuries over that time span.
If you look at points per game (min of 80 GP) Monahan is 23 overall (Horvat is 79. On LW Gaudreau is 4 and Tkachuk is 24). Based on point production he is a 'lower-ended' top line centre.
Points aren't everything, and Monahan is a top goal scorer which bumps his value, but he doesn't play a top defensive game, he isn't physical, and his face offs are average. Let's hope Monahan finds another offensive level, improves his defensive play, or we see another player (like Bennett) develop into a top 10 producer at the position.