Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear
Lets be honest here, there hasn't been a great deal of progression in his game since his rookie season. His skating is terrible. He is constantly gliding when he should be moving his feet. He is incapable of skating the puck into the zone. He refuses to use his body.
He's got a nice wrister and is pretty good in the dot. That isn't enough in the NHL today.
I want to like him but he is the player im most concerned about right now. You'd think with the struggles he's having and the fact he's slowly losing ice time he'd come out fired up but he's getting more passive every game.
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This is largely true. Monahan's anticipation and shot are excellent. He knows where to be on the ice. He's going to score a lot of goals in this league. But the rest of his game is weak. He has good defensive awareness but he lacks the energy and speed to make him a really good two-way centre. And he's Bouwmeeser soft. The comparisons to Toews are ridiculous.
The good thing is he's young enough to round out his game. He'll never be a great skater, but he can absolutely learn to be more aggressive on the forecheck and back check, and use a more active stick. Play a heavier game in the corners. If he wants to. Or he may just decide that scoring goals is pretty much his thing.