Thought I'd do a bit of a comparison...
Monahan in his draft year, put up 78 points in 58 games in the OHL, an NHLe of 34
In his draft +1 year, he made the NHL and put up 34 points
In his draft +2 year, he put up 62 points
Since then, he has plateaued at about 60 points, but has become a much more complete C
Puljujarvi, in his draft year, put up 28 points in 50 games in SM-liiga, an NHLe of 20
In his draft +1 year, he played 28 NHL games and put up 8 points (23 point pace)
He then went to the AHL for 39 games and put up 28 points, an NHLe of 28 points
So even if we ignore than Monahan plays top line C and just look at points (Puljujarvi's presumed forte), Monahan has been better at each year of comparative data.
I am not saying that Puljujarvi can't or won't be better than Monahan - he might be - but for the author to rank him higher in the top 100, he is saying that he will be.
Even if Monahan plateaus from here and remains a 60 point C, and never improves defensively, Puljujarvi must hit 70 points to be better. The argument requires two things:
1) Monahan doesn't get any better
2) Puljujarvi's floor is 70 points. His floor, not his ceiling. I would agree that his ceiling is probably 70 points, but assuming 70 points is a given for him is a pretty big stretch.
Also, I predict Monahan will hit 70 points this year.
|