Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
The biggest concern I have for Sean Monahan is his inability to produce with Johnny Gaudreau. This latest stretch here isn’t much different from the stretch in 2016-17 when Gaudreau was injured. I recall the head coach almost healthy scratching Monahan in that 11 games Gaudreau was away.
I’ve made the comparison in the past that Monahan is a bit like James Neal. Obviously not as useless, but Monahan will always require a winger who can play with pace and drive up the ice with the puck. Monahan is simply too slow, not nimble and he cannot use his body to effectively shield the puck. So he will always need to defer to his 2 wingers to drive play and be the primary playmakers which is big problem because of how easy it is for the opposition to hone in and defend a single winger. It’s probably why Andrew Mangiapane works better with a Mikael Backlund than a Sean Monahan too.
I also dislike Monahan’s lack of variety in the goal scoring department. He scores the majority or his goals in front of the net or being completely wide open in the slot where he releases his extremely telegraphed wrist shot. Too easy and predictable to shut down as we’ve seen this season and even in parts of 18-19 and 19-20. If he had some breakaway speed or the ability to tip pucks or could generate his own shot from a distance, but I think he completely Flames out without Gaudreau.
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Healthy scratch? Monahan was about .5 PPG in that little stretch (actually 10 games unless you are counting the half game in which Gaudreau left). Below his .75 career average at that point, but not scratch-worthy. In fact, he had a better November in the second half without Gaudreau than his first half with him. He was on a 3 game point streak right before Gaudreau came back.