Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Just fir accuracy: In March and April Monahan has 6 goals and 13 points (his 2 goal game against Mtl was outside your 17 game period though). Since the split (which I think was the 5-0 win against Montreal, so 10 games) he has 3 goals and 5 points. Gaudreau has 5 goals and 12 points. In fairness, Gaudreau got the better end of the new linemate sweepstakes - Lindholm and Tkachuk versus Mangiapane and Ritchie (and Dube for a couple games).
Both of them benefited from an advanced stats perspective.
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I find it hard to believe anyone can still defend Monahan at this point. All I've heard from the Sean Monahan apologists is that he can drive his own line, he scores 30 goals in his sleep and even before Johnny Gaudreau arrived, he was a 20 goal scorer. So here it is, Monahan's chance to drive his own line, make others around him better and be a reliable goal scorer now that's he's not facing the top shutdown lines. But he failed badly to rise to the occasion. Gaudreau on the other hand, raised the level of his game like the play driver he is. He took over Dube's position and in doing so, that line transformed into an elite offensive line, producing virtually every game and giving their team a chance to win each night.
Conversely, in those critical games the team needed a goal, Monahan and his line didn't offer the team anything. Those 2 losses to the Canadiens, the loss to the Sens, the loss to the Oilers yesterday, all must have games that came down to the last minute and nothing. Even just one goal could've made a big difference in the standings and zero offensive input. He's a $6M center for crying out loud, paid more than Mark Scheifele, more than Nathan Mackinnon, more than Alex Barkov. No more excuses, show up and do your job.
Finally, those stats you posted there, doesn't even paint half the picture. 2 of those 5 points were empty net points and 3 points came in one game. So we're talking about 7 of the 10 games with nothing. Ask yourself, how many games would you expect your team to win if your 2nd line was shut out for 70% of the games? That's not exactly helpful for a team trying to run the table here. The top line did there job and then some, the second line, underperformed badly based on expectations.