[News] Article: Monahan and Gaudreau are the next elite NHL duo

[Vinny01]

This writer has been putting out pro Flames articles all summer. I have enjoyed reading them and am a fan of this comparison. I look at our top 3 young forwards and our D along with a deep pool of prospects and see an organization that is on the cusp of a long run as a contender in the west

[stemit14]

I think if you combined the gameplay of Bennett and Monahan you would end up with Toews. So the flames may not have any single player at toews' level... But Bennett and Monahan combined could bring the same elements that toews does.

[gt4flames]

Two men, 3 cups has a much nicer ring to it.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Imo Bennett is going to be the best of the bunch. Monahan will be our 2nd line centre

[CSharp]

Just hope Gaudreau doesn't turn out to be a dooshbag like Kane, though.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CSharp

Just hope Gaudreau doesn't turn out to be a dooshbag like Kane, though.

I think Gaudreau is a pretty open book on that score. If he turned all Delta Bravo we wouldnt even need Gio to straighten him out, his mom and dad would probably beat Gio to the punch.

[Dion]

[TX_Flame]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Toews has the ability and desire to dominate physically. Monahan has not shown such an inclination.

The article mentions that Monahan is better at staying out of the penalty box than rookie Toews



I for one will not be disappointment with the higher penalty total that Sam B. puts up battling with the other teams intimidators..... as did Toews.

Toew's nasty streak creates a titch more space for Kane and it will be interesting if Hudler/Frolik plays full time on the Monahan-Gaudreau line or if some beef is inserted or if Gaudreau end up playing with Bennett.

With all the stats out there it is somewhat surprising that net penalty minutes is not easily available. Offsetting penalties do not hurt the team and playing a more aggressive style might very well result in drawing more penalties.

The other thing that the article leaves out is that Toews and Kane broke in with Sharp Havlat and Byfuglien with Ladd and Brouwer being added for their 2nd year.

All of these players would not be Lady Byng winner Hudler.

Gaudreau and Monahan will get more space with the addition of Ferland, Bennett and Poirier to go along with Bouma and Colborne.

1. Interesting point about net PIMs. I would like to see that stat more although I hadn't thought of that before.

2. Sharp may not have won the Lady Byng, but he was definitely no slouch as a linemate for Toews and Kane.

[Rick M.]

Now all we need is our version of Hossa.

[TX_Flame]

Originally Posted by Dion

Love it!

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Locke

I think Gaudreau is a pretty open book on that score. If he turned all Delta Bravo we wouldnt even need Gio to straighten him out, his mom and dad would probably beat Gio to the punch.

If he was going to be an ass he probably already would have been in college. And there's nothing to that effect.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

Imo Bennett is going to be the best of the bunch. Monahan will be our 2nd line centre

You could be right but...

I feel like Monahan is underrated on this board. I would be very happy if Bennett turned out to be just as good as Monahan.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Eric

You could be right but...

I feel like Monahan is underrated on this board. I would be very happy if Bennett turned out to be just as good as Monahan.

I agree, but thats because Monahan really strikes me as more of a meat and potatoes, hard minutes, not flashy kind of player.

An ideal top-line Centre.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Locke

I agree, but thats because Monahan really strikes me as more of a meat and potatoes, hard minutes, not flashy kind of player.

An ideal top-line Centre.

My thoughts exactly.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Eric

You could be right but...

I feel like Monahan is underrated on this board. I would be very happy if Bennett turned out to be just as good as Monahan.

Monahan's stock dropped among some posters because of his lackluster playoff performance (comparatively). I'm sure he'll rocket right back up after a few games next season.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Originally Posted by Eric

You could be right but...

I feel like Monahan is underrated on this board. I would be very happy if Bennett turned out to be just as good as Monahan.

I think Sean is a touch overrated if anything. A lot of his points come from jiri and Johnny working magic. He got awesome beneficial starts in his rookie season. I'm worried we will pay him like a elite 1st line centre and he will turn out to be a 2nd line guy. I hope I'm wrong but I think he is exciting but doesn't have the elite ceiling like Johnny or Sam. He doesn't create on his own. He isn't physical. His skating is average. He drives the net very very well has a good release and keeps his stick on the ice. Good face offs for his age and also responsible defensively. The next toews? That's unfair to both parties to compare the 2.

Imho if Sean played on a line without jiri and Johnny who are two of the most creative passers in the nhl. They also have some of the best vision in the nhl. I like Sean but I think he will settle into a smaller role with us. 2nd line c with pp and ok time. Still a big role, just not elite 1st line centre.

Hope people don't think I'm bashing him. I'm from Brampton so I'd love to see him prove me wrong.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I don't expect their peaks to line up exactly, but we don't really need them to. Even having forwards who are say 80% as good as Toews and Kane will be good enough of a core to compete for a Cup annually.

Plus, even if they are only 80%, their cap hits won't be 80% of the Chicago duo (more like 60-70%). We will pretty much be able to pay the same for JG, Money and Bennett combined that Chi pays for just Kane and Toews combined. That is going to be huge going forward assuming BT gives the 3 young stars long term deals. In that scenario, I'd rather have our three than Chicago's two (assuming all three keep improving to the point where they are lite versions of Chicago guys).

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

I think Sean is a touch overrated if anything. A lot of his points come from jiri and Johnny working magic. He got awesome beneficial starts in his rookie season. I'm worried we will pay him like a elite 1st line centre and he will turn out to be a 2nd line guy. I hope I'm wrong but I think he is exciting but doesn't have the elite ceiling like Johnny or Sam. He doesn't create on his own. He isn't physical. His skating is average. He drives the net very very well has a good release and keeps his stick on the ice. Good face offs for his age and also responsible defensively. The next toews? That's unfair to both parties to compare the 2.

Imho if Sean played on a line without jiri and Johnny who are two of the most creative passers in the nhl. They also have some of the best vision in the nhl. I like Sean but I think he will settle into a smaller role with us. 2nd line c with pp and ok time. Still a big role, just not elite 1st line centre.

Hope people don't think I'm bashing him. I'm from Brampton so I'd love to see him prove me wrong.

That is fair for the most part. However it is worth noting he is only going into his third season and we will likely see improvement over the next few years. He's already improved those things a great deal from his rookie season where he was barely ready for the NHL. The progress he's taken since then has been remarkable, but he still has some weaknesses obviously.

Sean's a very different type of player, it's very hard to find players to compare him with. Names like Francis, Toews and E.Staal are tossed around a lot, but I really see him only possessing elements of those player's games. He doesn't seem to have the high end playmaking ability of Francis, the physical play of Toews or the speed of Staal. What he may have over all of them is his ability to fill the net. He's looking more and more like a player who will score on around 15% of his shots, annually. Once he actually gets into his prime we may be talking about a 35-40 goal guy who possesses the 2-way game of a Selke candidate. If that happens, and Bennett is somehow just as good or better... my oh my. That could be Nieuwendyk and Gilmour all over again.

A lot of what makes/is going to make Sean great is his IQ. He just knows where to be and when to be there, at both ends of the ice. He doesn't need to drive the play or go all out the way some players do to be successful, but he probably should play with players like that. He plays a near-perfect positional game (for his age especially) and has some seriously silky mitts to compliment that. He's basically a ninja out there.

He might not be a flashy player, or one that brings people out of their seats but he'll be just as effective as one. He's more the guy who consistently pops in out of nowhere to snipe yet another goal while his linemates look like super heroes. He's also the guy who is the best defensive forward on the ice most of the time, freeing up a magician like Gaudreau to do his thing. It's hard to quantify Monahan's worth, but I think it's safe to say that he's one of the most deceptively skilled players in the game today. If hockey IQ were measurable, I honestly believe he would be in the top 10/15. If the rest of his game (speed, physicality, playmaking) improves measurably, we've got a superstar on our hands.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

I really really hope you are right. The skeptic in me says he would be scoring much less without Johnny and jiri. If you watch ACs amazing videos you will notice in the mony video how much he is set up by jiri and Johnny. Even in the Johnny video it's a bunch of Monahan and wideman goals he drew assists on in there.

Anyway my point is the kids numbers are higher than they probably should be due to percentage of offensive zone starts and pp time as a rookie with gio and Brodie behind him not to mention playing with jiri later on. Also I honestly think a lot of players in the league could pot 30 in between gaudreau and hudler. Yes Sean has an awesome wrister..good positioning and iq. He knows how to put them away. I'm not saying he isn't a scorer. I'm saying he is getting tape to tape passes wide open a lot of times, jamming in a play by his line mates driving the net. None of these are faults to Sean they are actually good things. It just makes me wonder how much of it is him playing with gio Brodie Johnny jiri. And how much of it is Sean Monahan. I'd love love to see him play without Johnny or jiri before we give him his contract. Maybe with frolik and another lwer.

I think he will top out as a 2nd line centre who can score and can play pk pp es plus be a twf with defensive awareness and good iq. He just doesn't have the playmaking, skating, physicality or edge you would expect from someone his size. Got manhandled by Kesler and didn't have much fire in my opinion. I was left wanting in the playoffs. When I saw players laying the body and making sacrifice and barely saw Sean finish a check. That combines with my suspicion that he is slightly riding the offensive coat tails of his playmaking line mates and rushing dmen..it makes me very nervous to see the contract we give him.

I will end by saying I hope I'm totally wrong and Sean becomes our captain for a decade and breaks records for scoring and is a top centre in the league. All I'm saying is realistically I can't see it because of the lack of individual offensive pizazz. He's a good finisher though and reads the play exceptionally well for his age. The toews comparison is ludicrous imho. About as bad as the Crosby MacKinnon comparisons

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

I really really hope you are right. The skeptic in me says he would be scoring much less without Johnny and jiri.

Not buying this at all. If anything it would be just as fair to say that Jiri and Johnny wouldn't have the same amount of points without Monahan in the middle and playing triggerman.

The biggest thing about Monahan in all the video footage we see and re-watch is his knack for being in the right place at the right time. That isn't an accident, or a product of creative line-mates. It's his hockey sense.

He's big, reads the play incredibly well, is an underrated passer, and a pure goal scorer. His two way game is well beyond his years. He's already a No. 1 Centre and is only going to get better.

I thought Darryl Sutter hit the nail on the head:

"I don’t think Monahan gets enough credit in the league. Everybody talks about the centremen in this conference, and they don’t talk about Sean Monahan ... and they should.”


I think that largely, as Flames fans, we have just the right amount of praise and expectations for/of Monahan. He's an absolute beauty.