Sean FRICKIN Monahan

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

What?

He's on pace for 25 this year as a 19 year old (28 if you go by games played)

Jordan Staal hasn't matched the 29 goals he put up in his rookie season yet. Monahan's shooting percentage is through the roof.

The only two guys I can think of that have maintained shooting percentage like that over their careers are Stamkos, and Tanguay. It's possible Monahan is one of those guys but pretty unlikely.

Jordan Staal is a good comp. Toews is setting fans up for disappointment IMO.

[Red Ice Player]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Jordan Staal hasn't matched the 29 goals he put up in his rookie season yet. Monahan's shooting percentage is through the roof.

The only two guys I can think of that have maintained shooting percentage like that over their careers are Stamkos, and Tanguay. It's possible Monahan is one of those guys but pretty unlikely.

Jordan Staal is a good comp. Toews is setting fans up for disappointment IMO.

Monahan's shooting percentage is 18%, which is a bit high, but for good reason, The guy is a already a great shooter. As he matures and gets better linemates, more power play time, he'll get more shots. Look at Ovechkin, he shoots around 13% yet has 43 goals. My guess is Monahan will be a fairly high percentage shooter throughout his career, not 18%, but he won't need to maintain that to get his goals.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Jordan Staal hasn't matched the 29 goals he put up in his rookie season yet. Monahan's shooting percentage is through the roof.

The only two guys I can think of that have maintained shooting percentage like that over their careers are Stamkos, and Tanguay. It's possible Monahan is one of those guys but pretty unlikely.

Jordan Staal is a good comp. Toews is setting fans up for disappointment IMO.

I always love the shooting percentage argument.

It would be unlikely that he maintains 18%, I would agree, but it is possible that he might actually, oh I don't know... get more shots?

Jordan Staal is not the only player to never outdo his rookie season. However, the more normal progression is that a player continues to improve beyond his 19 year old season.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Jordan Staal hasn't matched the 29 goals he put up in his rookie season yet. Monahan's shooting percentage is through the roof.

The only two guys I can think of that have maintained shooting percentage like that over their careers are Stamkos, and Tanguay. It's possible Monahan is one of those guys but pretty unlikely.

Jordan Staal is a good comp. Toews is setting fans up for disappointment IMO.

Monahan also had a better track record of scoring coming out of junior than did Staal- I agree that some high end names being thrown around are setting up for disappointment, but I'm not sure Jordan Staal isn't maybe a touch on the lower side of the range too...we'll see

[Sylvanfan]

Staal is a real strange one though. His 29 goal rookie season is his highest scoring season ever for goal totals including Junior.

I think Monahan could become a 30 goal guy much like Daymond Langkow did. I think he's a better playmaker than his numbers show too. Could top out as a 60-65 point guy if given better linemates. Key will be doing it consistently, and being a good 200 foot player. Cory Stillman beat that point total 3 times and equalled it one other time in his career. I like Monahan a lot more at this age than I did with Stillman.

[Oling_Roachinen]

There's also the fact that Staal was playing on lines with players like Malkin and Recchi behind the Art Ross winning Crosby (as well as getting PP time with him). Although his rookie season 7 short handed goal record was impressive it's a bit easy to look back in retrospect and think playing with one of the best players of his generation behind the best player of his generation and having one of the highest scoring players of all time on your line might not have been a terrible position for Staal to be in. In fact it's about as good of a situation a rookie could be in.

On the other hand Monahan is playing with Colborne.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Jordan Staal is a good comp. Toews is setting fans up for disappointment IMO.

Jeez we are comparing playing styles not the actual players. We all know he won't be as good as one of the best players in the NHL.

And Jordan Staal is a horrible comparison. Monahan has way better offensive intincts and his defensive game isn't even close to Staal's defensive game just yet. They play nothing alike.

[MikaelBacklund]

I often compare him to Logan Couture and agree that his playmaking is underrated. I also agree with the other poster that I'd want to see him be more physical. You can tell he doesn't fully go through with his hits most of the time, cause he definitely can push his weight around.

[saXon]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

Monahan's shooting percentage is 18%, which is a bit high, but for good reason, The guy is a already a great shooter. As he matures and gets better linemates, more power play time, he'll get more shots. Look at Ovechkin, he shoots around 13% yet has 43 goals. My guess is Monahan will be a fairly high percentage shooter throughout his career, not 18%, but he won't need to maintain that to get his goals.

When your supporting cast isn't worth passing to because they have no finish, it's pretty telling why Monahan has 18% shooting percentage and such low assist numbers.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Originally Posted by saXon

When your supporting cast isn't worth passing to because they have no finish, it's pretty telling why Monahan has 18% shooting percentage and such low assist numbers.

I've never been good at math but doesnt taking more shots and passing less mean its tougher to keep a sh% of 18%? Making the fact that monahan does so whilst playing with meh players and getting lots of shots off a lot more impressive.

I think Monahan is his own type of player just as Toews and Staal are. but I am sure his biggest hockey asset is his brain. He is always finding space and evading defencemen around the net. He is very very good without the puck and having a good quick release and some accuracy doesnt hurt. Good hockey IQ, mature, hard working and a decent bit of talent with the puck. I think he is actually going to surprise a lot of us by exceeding our already high expectations

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

He doesn't have Toews hands. Not even close

to be fair Toews never had Toews hands in his 18 year old season either.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

to be fair Toews never had Toews hands in his 18 year old season either.

He had them before his NHL career
World juniors were nuts

[blender]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Jeez we are comparing playing styles not the actual players. We all know he won't be as good as one of the best players in the NHL.

And Jordan Staal is a horrible comparison. Monahan has way better offensive intincts and his defensive game isn't even close to Staal's defensive game just yet. They play nothing alike.

Do we? What if he turns out to be better? Not saying he will or won't be better than Toews, but seems silly to try and guess at this point. He's a great young player, and great to have him on the Flames.

[driveway]

Monahan had good assist numbers in Junior, consistently getting more assists than goals. It's entirely reasonable to expect his assist numbers to increase as he gets more NHL experience and better linemates.

Re: Monahan's shooting percentage. He started out the season on a scorching hot streak, after 9 games - when the decision was made to keep him in the NHL - he had 6 goals on 21 shots for a SH% of 28.5%. There was considerable howling from the blogosphere that the Flames were being stupid.

Since then, he's had 12 goals on 71 shots for a more human, but still excellent 15.4% shooting. Currently active players with career shooting percentages between 14.5 and 15.5 include, Nathan Horton, Mike Ribeiro, Crosby, Vanek, Glencross, Selane, Lucic and the oft-compared Jonathan Toews.

From watching Monahan, I felt like a lot of his goals so far have been right-time/right-place goals and goals from in front of the net. I decided to confirm or deny my impression by going back and watching all of his goals so far this year, because I have nothing better to do...

Of his goals, exactly none have come from outside the face-off dots, and in my notes I characterized 10 of his goals has having come from "right-in-front," these being right around the crease. We've also seen his ability to shoot in the shootout, and he's scored some really nice goals on great shots, but, again, every single one of his goals come from shots inside the dots.

A large number of his goals came off the rush, both with him completing some nice passing plays, and shooting himself, and he's always, always going to the net.

Only one, maybe two, of his goals would I consider 'lucky'. The one that was for sure luck was against Colorado, when a shot bounced in off the defender, the other was against the Rangers when he managed to knock a bouncing puck around Lundkvist. Everything else was skill, and a lot of really nice skill.

This leads me to believe that Monahan is the kind of player who could maintain a career shooting percentage near 15%, with his demonstrated ability to finish plays, go to the net, and possessing what I think will come to be an underrated shot.

One thing that doesn't look like it's part of his game yet is deflections in front. None of his goals have come this way. With his 6'2" frame, hopefully he develops this skill, it'd be really nice to see him standing in front of goalies on the powerplay, particularly with his demonstrated around-the-net sense and hands.

We got a good one in Money, I'm looking forward to watching his career.

[GoFlamesGo1989]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

to be fair Toews never had Toews hands in his 18 year old season either.

Also Toews didn't start playing in the NHL right after he was drafted.

[Bingo]

I've said it in game stories but I've been really impressed with the player since the week before the olympic break.

I'm not a scout, so my view on the guy from reading and development camp was a passer that has good poise in the offensive zone, and a great understanding 200 feet back to his net.

He's surprised me this year with his ability to find open ice (you can't teach that), and his quick release.

His shoot out performance shows he's one of those guys that can hit a very small hole on a goalie accurately which is really impressive for his age.

I wasn't concerned that he wasn't physical and was getting pushed around down low, because you expect that at his age (weight)

My biggest concern was his puck handling skills as he looked almost have stone hands when he get the puck. He wasn't a guy to carry it at all, so because of that you never saw him set anyone up (save for that Baertschi goal against Montreal).

Now however he's changed again.

He's adjusted to the foot injury, got a break, and came back way more confident with the puck. He's creating more, but yet again on Saturday there he is finding the seam and scoring a big goal.

His stock is rising in my mind. Great young player, and I'm now 100% convinced it was a good move to keep him and not send him back after 9 games (will always wonder about his WJC experience impact though)

[Enoch Root]

^ you said it: quick release. Also, very accurate.

I agree that his poise continues to grow and his he has an unusual combination of patience, along with that quick release.

I was against keeping him up but he has not only proven me wrong, but has continued to improve throughout the year

[ComixZone]

Monahan is on pace for 40 pts in an 82 game schedule this season (.49 pts per game) - which is solid, but not the makings of a superstar. Looking around the league at some top centres rookie seasons, you find out where Monahan sits among players.

Toews - 54 pts in 64 games (.84 pts per game)
Crosby - 102 pts in 81 games (1.26 pts per game)
Kopitar - 61 pts in 72 games (.85 pts per game)
Getzlaf - 39 pts in 57 games (.68 pts per game)
Duchene - 55 pts in 81 games (.68 pts per game)
Stamkos - 46 pts in 79 games (.58 pts per game)
Bergeron - 39 pts in 71 games (.55 pts per game)
Stepan - 45 pts in 82 games (.55 pts per game)

Monahan (.49 pts per game)

M. Koivu - 21 pts in 64 games (.33 pts per game)
Krejci - 27 pts in 56 games (.38 pts per game)
Plekanec - 29 pts in 67 games (.43 pts per game)

So while he's having a damn solid rookie season, if you were to draw comparison on career-trajectories based only on rookie season results - Monahan looks to be best suited as a #2 centre, or a 1A/1B centre.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Monahan is on pace for 40 pts in an 82 game schedule this season (.49 pts per game) - which is solid, but not the makings of a superstar. Looking around the league at some top centres rookie seasons, you find out where Monahan sits among players.

Toews - 54 pts in 64 games (.84 pts per game)
Crosby - 102 pts in 81 games (1.26 pts per game)
Kopitar - 61 pts in 72 games (.85 pts per game)
Getzlaf - 39 pts in 57 games (.68 pts per game)
Duchene - 55 pts in 81 games (.68 pts per game)
Stamkos - 46 pts in 79 games (.58 pts per game)
Bergeron - 39 pts in 71 games (.55 pts per game)
Stepan - 45 pts in 82 games (.55 pts per game)

Monahan (.49 pts per game)

M. Koivu - 21 pts in 64 games (.33 pts per game)
Krejci - 27 pts in 56 games (.38 pts per game)
Plekanec - 29 pts in 67 games (.43 pts per game)

So while he's having a damn solid rookie season, if you were to draw comparison on career-trajectories based only on rookie season results - Monahan looks to be best suited as a #2 centre, or a 1A/1B centre.

Monahan made the NHL at age 18 though. How many of those players did? Only ones that I know made the NHL right out of the draft are Crosby, Bergeron and Stamkos. Anyone else?

[Tyler]

Aside from say, Crosby, did any of those rookies lead their team in scoring?

Remember..Monahan's team sucks