Quote:
Originally Posted by kehatch
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.
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Monahan took the most faceoffs for the Flames last season and had the best winning percentage at 51.5%. You know what center also had a 51.5% percentage? David Krejci. You know what center had a 43.5%? Mark Scheifle. The bottom line is that he's improved year over year since his rookie season and most of the centers with better FO% are veteran centers. I have no doubt in a few more seasons he will be in the 54%+ range and top 20 centers in this metric as centers typically improve on this stat as they age.