Expecting a player being given borderline 4th line minutes (284th among NHL forwards in EV TOI/G) with plugs like Lewis and Pitlick and assuming he will produce offensively is ridiculous (especially in a Sutter system..). Sean Monahan is playing exactly how he is being asked to play, and despite some poor luck (worst PDO on the team) is certainly not being overwhelmed in his matchups like some are proclaiming. That's just a false narrative. Every other player that has played consistent bottom six minutes on this roster has worse to considerably worse analytics. That points to Monahan doing the right things.
Sean Monahan is the perfect buy low candidate for another team in need of a top six forward, and is a seriously nice insurance policy for Calgary to have in it's back pocket should injuries occur to Lindholm or Backlund.
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