Quote:
Originally Posted by gvitaly
I think it is a safer bet that one of Dube / Ruzicka / Pelltier becomes a 20 goal scorer than Monahan does next season.
My biggest problem with Monahan's game last season was that his line couldn't get the puck back from the opposition. As soon as Monahan's line got possession they would dump the puck in and go off on a change. There were several factors contributing to it, one of them was that Monahan had a hard time coming up with the puck in board battles. The other was an inability to disrupt the opposition's cycle in his own zone, and missing assignments as a result. His +/- reflects that, and a lot of it had to do with how he thinks the game rather than his physical ability.
Sutter tried sheltering Monahan, he tried playing him with good wingers, but Monahan's line was a liability for most of last season. I don't expect it to change, but I really wish Monahan gets fully healthy and stays healthy and successful regardless of his on-ice contribution.
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IIRC Monahan's numbers actually reflected that he did OK on possession except with a couple of particular wingers. He had positive numbers except in the Pitlick/Dube, Lucic/Toffoli and Lewis Richardson combos. And I don't think Sutter gave him good wingers at all - it was mostly a diet of Lewis, Pitlick, Ritchie, Lucic and Richardson especially to start. I thought that when Toffoli came, they looked OK with Dube, despite the fact Monahan was clearly hurt, and he had fantastic numbers with Mangiapane/Dube.
https://frozenpool.dobbersports.com/...s/sean-monahan