Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Monahan, on the season, is at 55.84 On-Ice Shot Attempts/60
Only Trevor Lewis, Nikita Zadorov, and Brad Richardson have had a lower number.
Since shot attempts are the most useful way of describing useful (read: non-turnover) offensive zone possession, I have to disagree with you overall.
For some comparision, Glen Gawdin, who only logged two games and was sent down on waivers, had 59.34 On-Ice Shot Attempts/60 playing with Brett Ritchie and Trevor Lewis as his linemates. And while the team didn't score with him on the ice, it was Gawdin's line that directly contributed to Lindholm's goal against the Ducks.
I'm not pretending the Gawdin sample size is big enough to read too deeply into, but if the goal is "a low production unit and grind out forechecking shifts. He uses that line to hem in the opposition late in periods", then they've been thus far not been able to match what that Gawdin line already gave us.
I do realize there are other factors that need to be considered - road vs home, quality of competition (since it appears Dube's been most sheltered since the shift to centre) but I nonetheless feel the expectations for this line are being set so low, that the line's being praised for things it's not actually doing as consistently. It's starting to feel like a participation award.
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I think Sutter knows what he is asking, what he wants, and what he likes. And I think that Monahan’s line is providing it. I suspect Sutter doesn’t care if that line scores any goals as long as they play mostly in the other end. They were not as good last night, mainly because of the shakeup. Lucic is obviously way better than Richardson.