[AltaGuy]

My analysis goes like so:

Gaudreau - Much of what I think has been posted above by Cliff and Flash. He needs a player (or players) who can drive the play for when space is at a premium in the playoffs. Watch Patrick Kane highlight videos from the various Hawks runs - he's the definition of an opportunistic player. Kane gets the puck and it's off his stick in a hurry to a teammate or in the net. What he's not doing is carrying the puck into the zone or is ever relied upon for puck retrieval. But other teams played him just like they do Johnny: lean on him, whack him, swarm him. It's just that Kane's job isn't to hold the puck, it's to get open - Johnny can do the same. Toews and Hossa, of course, were perfect for this - aggressive players, sound defensively, generated turnovers, strong on skates, big and fast, and moved the puck up-ice.

Monahan - He is too much of a one-dimensional player. He is slow, especially his acceleration, and so cannot be relied on to either carry the puck, retrieve the puck, or play anything but "zone" defense. His possession numbers are terrible and will remain terrible. He's deadly in tight, and he's good at finding seams as long as he doesn't need to get there quickly. His one goal these playoffs was him golfing a puck luckily into the top corner. But he didn't have many in tight shots or good looks, mostly because he wasn't fast enough to get position, or ornery enough to bull his way there. Gaudreau needs to swap roles with his centerman: Gaudreau has the puck too much in traffic, and needs to be finding space. Monahan is never going to be that guy. But I don't see a role on the second line for him either here - because Tkachuk has many of the same limitations. All three of our primary drivers of offense do: they aren't ever going to be great at carrying the puck in physical, fast games. They will all need a big-bodied, strong, fast player who can hold onto it through traffic and play good defense.

Tkachuk - He may be injured. But we also saw that he - like Monahan and Gaudreau above - has limitations in a fast and physical game. Other players need to help him generate offense, because he's not going to be great on retrieval, pursuit, or carrying the puck. He can work in tight, and get open, cause havoc, etc. - but he's just never going to be a guy who has the puck on his stick a lot.

Bennett - The most successful Flames forward in the postseason because he is fast and strong enough to carry the puck and retrieve the puck. However, with the same matchups that Monahan and Johnny had all postseason, I doubt he would be nearly as effective. He isn't that fast and he isn't that big. He also doesn't have the offensive instincts that any of the three above do, so will never score at that level. But, I do think he's made a case that he'll always be an effective top-six player in both regular and postseason.

My offseason plan - Trade Monahan. I wouldn't bump him down a line or two because Tkachuk has too many of the same negatives in his game, but is simply a better player and competitor. I would sign Kevin Hayes, not because he's better than Monahan, but because he's faster, stronger, and carries the puck. He'll produce enough with Johnny. If not Hayes, then we need to find an O'Reilly, Kopitar, Toews, or Johansen. Pretty difficult, but if we have to move out some combination of Monahan, our 1st, and a young DMan, I think we need to do it. This is one of the reasons I'm not huge on the idea of Duchene - he's not big, feisty, or defensive. He's fast, but I don't think he's enough of a compliment to Gaudreau.

If we can address 1st line C through free agency, then Monahan can get us a big-bodied and fast player to play on the second line with Tkachuk. Or he can get us futures.

tl;dr I believe that trading Monahan is the most important offseason move for us. He doesn't fulfill the needs we have on the 1st line - indeed, he hampers Gaudreau's chances for success mightily - and he isn't appropriate for the 2nd line where Tkachuk has many of the same limitations. Patrick Kane had Toews, Hossa, and Sharp doing some big lifting with the Hawks, and was able to pick his spots and capitalize. Gaudreau will need the same going forward, but is definitely skilled enough to have the same success.