Monahan is not a power guy, he doesn't crash and bang, and generally doesn't grind it out like a Mike Peca. This makes him a lot less noticeable, but there's more to good defense than those things. Mony plays a pretty sound positional defensive game-he takes away passes and shots with his positioning, and his stick. When he gets possession, the puck goes the other way. He'll probably never win a Selke, but he's fine. Jere Lehtinen, and Joe Nieuwendyk were examples of players that were great defensively, but a bit soft physically. And if there's any doubt, look at his ice time under Sutter.
And I'm not a huge Mony fan, I've argued before about my belief that we could use an upgrade at C.
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