Quote:
Originally Posted by dammage79
I think it humorous people say Johnnys better defensively than anybody 9n the Flames. I implore anyone to go back and re watch games and tell me where Johnny is literally any time in the defensive zone compared to literally anybody else.
I'll tell you where. Literally by himself, near the blue line or at least 10 feet away from anyone just floating. And if an opposing player skates near him with the puck, he backs off and waves his stick..
Seriously, maybe the weird stats people use for facts say Monahan is worse, but at least he's in the thick of the action trying.
Just a frustrating narrative I can't wrap my head around. I know what my eyes saw. Your data arguments don't match it up.
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I think you are getting sidetracked from the narrative here. Johnny's numbers improved away from Monahan because he got to play with two better defensive players in Lindholm and Tkachuk. I would also argue that the other team was playing a more defensive game against that line, than vs a line that had Monahan and Ritchie on it. That would in turn lead to better defensive numbers.
As for Monahan, I don't think anyone out there is saying that he isn't trying. He has a huge heart, and I don't doubt his character for a second. The problem is that he tends to find himself out of position defensively despite working his ass off.
That was also a problem when paired with Gaudreau, you had two players on one line that had a hard time playing D as a unit. As a result they would often get hemmed in their own zone. That way by the time they got the puck back, they were too tired to attack the other team off the rush and it would result in a dump in.