Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
All this is fine, but to me part of the frustration is the insistence that Monahan still play the centre position. It cannibalizes our speed down the middle because even as a 3C Monahan isn't really bringing a lot 5v5 that the most vanilla of centres straight out of the AHL can't bring.
If Monahan isn't going to be an impact centre, move him to the wing. We've already seen Dube look solid down the middle (observe his game-to-game trends before you paint him with the brush of his first couple of games at the position) so we're just putting a glass ceiling on the team's success by pidgeonholing both guys at the opposite positions... not unlike when Lindholm, Backlund, and other past forwards were forced to be Monahan's wingers, when the skillsets they too possess(ed) are far better-suited to the middle than Monahan.
Move Monahan to the wing, and let him take some offensive zone faceoffs if you want, but don't ask him to play low and be a shutdown guy or to carry the puck in transition. Let him play along the boards in the D zone and allow Dube to grow into someone who uses the extra open ice and support his defensemen down low, support his wingers, and drive transition. It might even give you a chance to put Monahan on Backlund's line in a shutdown role - because Monahan is a solid defensive player when not asked to cover large amounts of space not unlike Matthew Tkachuk, Milan Lucic or even Mark Stone.
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Hmm. I'm not against trying Monahan on the wing, it's not like he's impressed 5v5, although I'm skeptical whether it would make a difference.
I will say there's plenty of time to try other combinations before the playoffs. Nothing major is likely to happen before this roadtrip is over, but after this they'll have a lot more time at home, which gives more time to try stuff in practice, which makes it easier to experiment.
At this point I think it makes sense to have him play the position he's used to. One thing at a time.