Quote:
Originally Posted by Kovaz
The problem is the Monahan > Lindholm argument pretty much begins and ends at "points". And total points falls short at describing a player's overall quality. The difference in their scoring comes down to essentially one factor: when Monahan was on the ice, he picked up a point on 75% of goals scored, while Lindholm picked up a point on 61%. Flip those around, and Lindholm finishes with 87 points while Monahan ends up with 72.
There are a lot of good plays a player can make that don't result in points: - Driving the net on a 3 on 2 to create a passing lane
- Screening the goalie on a point shot
- Forechecking aggressively to force a bad pass
- Tracking down low in your zone to turn the puck over
Lindholm makes a lot of these types of plays that Monahan either can't or won't make. Without Lindholm making these plays, Monahan doesn't get the chance to score a good chunk of his points. Watch how many Monahan highlights have Lindholm causing havoc in the crease, either dragging a defender with him, screening the goalie, forcing a rebound, etc.
If we could replace Lindholm with a right-handed clone of Monahan at the same salary, IMO that makes us noticeably worse. If we replaced Monahan with a left-handed clone of Lindholm, IMO we're either about the same or slightly better. |
I don't disagree that, right now, Lindholm is playing better. I don't diagree he is more well rounded (though as a full time centre who knows).
The only thing I disagree with is that GMs would now draft him ahead on the basis of 1.25 years of play that's at this level, versus Monahan's track record.