Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Most people who “have sympathy” for a player wouldn’t say “Monahan sucks” and “Monahan is poo poo”. And Monahan was “somewhat effective” when he was younger? Do you mean from 2013-2020 when he scored 22-34 goals every year?
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Jeff Skinner scored 40 goals in 2018-19. Do you think Sabres fans who are skeptical he’s still a top-line player today are in the grips of negative bias?
Over the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, Matt Duchesne scored 119 pts in 141 games (0.84 ppg). Since then, he’s scored 56 pts in 103 games (0.54 ppg). If I were in a hockey pool this season, I’d pencil him in for 0.60 ppg, not 0.85.
Over that same period, Ryan Johansen went from 0.74 ppg to 0.57. I wouldn’t bank on a big bounceback there either.
Richard Rackell had back-to-back 33 and 34 goal seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Last season he had 9 in 52 games and the season before he had 15 in 65. He might bounce back to 30 goal form. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Players decline. Even players Monahan’s age (none of the players cited above are over 30). A fan doesn’t have to be consumed with hate to conclude Monahan is looking unlikely to regain his form of his early career.