[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Monahan lacks qualities you want in your #1 centre to be sure, and he has physical limitations on what he can do on the ice in terms of his speed. However, when Gaudreau is routinely giving away pucks in transition and within 10 feet of the blueline, that is going to make a guy lacking in speed look MUCH MUCH worse than he is.

IMO the problem right now is that Gaudreau's negative energy is a black cloud over the whole team and his linemates could be Francis and Iginla and he'd be making them look bad with his ####ty passes and horrific turnovers, because those other guys are never allowed to handle the puck.

Gaudreau is playing really poorly to be sure. But to say that Monahan isn't allowed to handle the puck is letting him off the hook. I can't recall the last time I saw Monahan even be remotely capable of handling the puck, gaining the offensive zone, and creating some openings with it. Johnny's doing it because he's the one who most often can. The play would die on Monahan's stick if he was "allowed" to handle the puck. Also, he's not a rookie anymore and should be a leader on the team -- if he wants to handle the puck he should do it, and do something good with it.