Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Yeah, this is all good stuff that I am sure every team wants. But I think that the numbers for the Flames would not provide an entirely accurate picture of how Calgary's centres rank, basically because Gaudreau is the player on the top line who carries the puck through the neutral zone, and I don't think this is because Monahan is somehow incapable of doing it just as well. I just tend to think that they have been playing together for so long that Monahan's instinct is to defer to Gaudreau most often, even in situations where he doesn't need to, or shouldn't. This is a big part of why I have long been an advocate of separating the two.
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I agree. Monahan probably can do this but he defers (as do others since Gaudreau is best at handling the puck.
But I think ideally you want that puck carrier to be in the middle of the ice and not near the walls. If its coming up the flank teams have already eliminated one direction for the puck carrier to go. Gaudreau then has only so many options compared to if the puck was coming up the middle.
CGY needs Monahan to develop this if he is to be a 200ft center imo.