Quote:
Originally Posted by HighLifeMan
I personally disagree with the general opinion of Monahan around here, but I am also one of the guy's biggest supporters. I think he deserves a legit look in a top six role as the roster sits now (whether that be at center or wing is another question).
Monahan is one of the better player's in the league at winning puck battles - I don't have the stats for last year, but just the season prior he ranked top five in puck battle win % among all NHL forwards (over 500 minutes). He may not physically manhandle the opposition but his positioning and stick work are phenomenal and always have been. It's the reason why he consistently has a positive giveaway/takeaway differential.
Secondly - Monahan absolutely did not get the chance to play with good wingers last year. His most common even strength linemates by a longshot were Lucic (45%), Dube (40%), and Lewis (29%). The fourth most common linemate for him was Mangiapane (15.5%) and the results in those minutes were fantastic for the Flames (CF - 60.6%, SF% - 61.9%, SCF% - 60%, GF% - 61.54%). Both Lucic and Dube also saw a drop off in their analytics away from Monahan. It is also interesting to note that at the time of his demotion from the top PP unit last season he was neck and neck with Tkachuk for the team lead in terms of PP production.
His underlaying numbers suggest that he was incredibly unlucky player last season. His midrange goals for/against was a (-8) at even strength despite having a positive shot differential from that area of the ice. Another interesting tidbit I noticed is that Sean Monahan was scored on 16 times from 101 (15.8%) high danger looks against while he was one the ice, while a player like Mangiapane for example only got scored on 16 times despite giving up 163 high danger corsi events (9.8%). Everything that could have gone wrong last year for him individually, did. Hell, just look at Jarnkrok's production drop after being acquired.. and he was playing with considerably better linemates. It's not easy to produce in a bottom six capacity in a Darryl Sutter system.
I really think Monahan's season was blown out of proportion due to a mix of playing catchup to start the year, having consistently poor linemates, and having by far his lowest on ice shooting percentage of his career.
Play him on the right side alongside Huberdeau and Lindholm and I bet you see a career resurgence. I don't really see a better fit for those two if he's healthy.
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I hope you're right and that it was just an unlucky year, or two years... I just have a very hard time believing it because it didn't match my eye test. As for the PP it looked a lot more dangerous, and less static with Toffoli on it, in my opinion.
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As an aside could a trade of Hanifin for Timo Meier($6M x 1 yr, $10M qualifying offer) be a win win for both the Flames and the Sharks?