Surprising Stat: Monahan is 2 points ahead of his pace from last year

[Bourque's Twin]

Originally Posted by saillias

Or 56 point Wideman who has regressed to mediocrity or Norris caliber Gio who has stabilized as a solid #2 but nowhere near last year's form.

True, but Gio was injured for the second half of last year, and we didn't have Teach Me how to Dougie on the roster either.

[CroFlames]

The OP could have fooled me. It seems all I hear about Mony on CP is how junk he is this year, "Not a first liner" and even that he's non-existent on the ice. LOL.

Boy oh boy, some people.

Kadri and Draisatle are better.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Some interesting stuff but I highly doubt Monahan goes on a tear in the second half the way he did last year. Unless 2015 Hudler comes back, but there is no reason to expect that. I figure Monahan will finish with around 20-25 goals and 50 points and there's nothing wrong with that.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The OP could have fooled me. It seems all I hear about Mony on CP is how junk he is this year, "Not a first liner" and even that he's non-existent on the ice. LOL.

Boy oh boy, some people.

Kadri and Draisatle are better.

I'm also a bit flabbergasted that one poster would take Kadri and Draisaitl over Monny. Particularly Kadri, wow.

tbf to Polak though, he was saying Monahan isn't a first line C on a contender. Which is true at the moment.

Monahan is a stud.

[H2SO4(aq)]

Without looking it up I assume he's on pace for around 6 hits this season. Up from 5 last season

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The OP could have fooled me. It seems all I hear about Mony on CP is how junk he is this year, "Not a first liner" and even that he's non-existent on the ice. LOL.

Boy oh boy, some people.

Kadri and Draisatle are better.

It's to be expected, Sean's no longer the shiny new toy. Combine that with heightened expectations after the playoff run and tadaa, he's terrible now!

[FeyWest]

I think the main struggles for him are Faceoffs. He's never really been bad at it in his career
Nevermind I just looked it up but he's actually improved slightly to just shy of 50% FO% [49.8%]... he was 49.3% last season, I think in games he plays well is when he's winning 50%+ of his faceoffs, and in my mind if he adjusted his game to being even just a hair more aggressive and using his size he will explode offensively, defensively and in the Faceoff department. Am I wrong in saying through his career he's been a strong 2-way player because of his intelligence and smarts rather than his hulking stature and strength? Now that he's getting stronger and he's more comparable to the men in the NHL he just has to realize he can push guys around, it's never had to be part of his game.

To me it makes sense that much like a large bodied 16 year old dominating the WHL/OHL because of his size and having to adjust to the NHL where everyone is as big and strong, Monahan has to adjust TO being big and strong, yes?

[polak]

The problem is that the second half is where the Monahudreau line really took off last year. Doesn't look like that has a chance of happening this year so it'll be really surprising if he come close to his end of season totals from last year.

I don't really blame Monahan for that though. It's all on Hudler. Monahan was never an offensive catalyst and I don't think he ever will be, so when he and Johnny are saddled with a 3rd liner on their line, I'm not surprised that Monahan is having a hard time keeping up his late season form from last year.

Can you imagine if you told people after the playoffs last season that half way through this season, Gaudreau and Monahan would be playing with Michael "on pace for 4 goals" Ferland and we would happy about it cause he's such an improvement on Jiri Hudler?

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by polak

The problem is that the second half is where the Monahudreau line really took off last year. Doesn't look like that has a chance of happening this year so it'll be really surprising if he come close to his end of season totals from last year.

I don't really blame Monahan for that though. It's all on Hudler. Monahan was never an offensive catalyst and I don't think he ever will be, so when he and Johnny are saddled with a 3rd liner on their line, I'm not surprised that Monahan is having a hard time keeping up his late season form from last year.

Can you imagine if you told people after the playoffs last season that half way through this season, Gaudreau and Monahan would be playing with Michael "on pace for 4 goals" Ferland and we would happy about it cause he's such an improvement on Jiri Hudler?

What exactly do you mean by this? I find that the way Monahan plays it creates room and opportunities for his linemates. He is very good at controlling the puck, retrieving pucks and basically finding Johnny with the puck. Him gaining possession from faceoffs would be considered a catalyst for offense wouldn't it? I mean the guy is a 60 point man. That is pretty offensive.

[N-E-B]

I'm not surprised at all by this. I think sometimes we see how flashy Gaudreau and Bennett are and expect Monahan to be the same, but that's just not who he is. I don't think he's been as bad as a lot of people thought he was, he's just quietly good.

IMO he's equally as important to this team as Gaudreau. He takes all the big face offs, kills penalties, wears an A so he's obviously one of the leaders in the room, and puts up 55-60pts/season. As much as I love Johnny, Monahan is my favourite Flame.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Ferland is pretty terrible on the top line, he looks two steps behind Monahan and Gaudreau in both zones. Defensively he was confused when the Devils opened the scoring. Was happy he was taken off that line for the 2nd and 3rd periods so kind of baffling to see him slated to go back there but Hartley doesn't have a tonne of choices at the moment I suppose.

It's hard to place Monahan's troublse though. He looks frustrated at times. His shooting percentage is down slightly, but not bad, still on pace for 26 goals. His face off percentage is on the wrong side of 50% but again, only slightly. For a 21 year old all his stats are pretty impressive IMO, we just haven't seen the type of jump we did from season one to season two.

Bennett and him are perfect compliments to each other though and any struggles long term Monahan has Bennett makes up for it as the 1-2 punch. Monahan isn't a dynamic offensively and his size is used for positioning, while Bennett is a highlight reel and a bully physically. Monahan compliments Bennett as well, at 21 Monahan is already a Selke capable player.

Eventually we'll see Bennett supplant Monahan as Gaudreau's center, or if the Flames are lucky enough to draft one of Laine and Puljujarvi we'll be set on our top lines, filling in the gaps with support players like Froik.

Gaudreau - Bennett - Frolik
Laine - Monahan - Puljujarvi (one of, don't get greedy)

Emile Poirier has been playing better lately, five points last three games, Calgary could really use a strong push by Emile to finish the season and make the team next year.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

What exactly do you mean by this? I find that the way Monahan plays it creates room and opportunities for his linemates. He is very good at controlling the puck, retrieving pucks and basically finding Johnny with the puck. Him gaining possession from faceoffs would be considered a catalyst for offense wouldn't it? I mean the guy is a 60 point man. That is pretty offensive.

Monahan doesn't really make his linemates better the way some players do, I guess is how I'd put it. He's not the one driving his line or creating things on his own.

[polak]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

What exactly do you mean by this? I find that the way Monahan plays it creates room and opportunities for his linemates. He is very good at controlling the puck, retrieving pucks and basically finding Johnny with the puck. Him gaining possession from faceoffs would be considered a catalyst for offense wouldn't it? I mean the guy is a 60 point man. That is pretty offensive.

He's not a playmaker and he doesn't have that creativity that you see in Johnny and saw in Hudler last year. When he gets the puck he usually does the reliable, best odds move, which there is nothing wrong with and obviously it works for him. Hudler and Gaudreau were the two players on that line that created something out of nothing and Monahan really benefited from that and was great at finishing things off.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

It's hard to place Monahan's troublse though. He looks frustrated at times. His shooting percentage is down slightly, but not bad, still on pace for 26 goals. His face off percentage is on the wrong side of 50% but again, only slightly. For a 21 year old all his stats are pretty impressive IMO, we just haven't seen the type of jump we did from season one to season two.

I agree that it's been tough to pin down, and honestly, I think it's confidence. He lost it at the beginning of the year, and it's coming back. I've noticed him hesitating a lot. Between the ears is huge for hockey players.

[GranteedEV]

Monahan isn't struggling. He's just not as elite as people want to believe he is. He's having a fine season. His only struggles came in October when he was removed from Gaudreau's line and asked to be a line-driver on his own.

[nik-]

boring consistent 60 point scorer ... ho hum

[codynw]

Originally Posted by nik-

boring consistent 60 point scorer ... ho hum

Pretty much. Offensively he reminds me a lot of Bergeron (obviously he has a ways to go defensively). He gets points because he's smart, not because he's super fast and skilled. When was the last time Bergeron did something that made anyone jump out of their seat? But there he is, quietly putting up points, every single year.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Chingas

Monahan is the unassuming girl with glasses who shows up at prom and steals the show. He is the least flashy stud player in the league imo. He has admittedly been quiet through some stretches this year but he is almost always the most unnoticeable solid contributor imo.

"I pity the guy that pressures her into prom-night sex."

-Deadpool

[nik-]

Yup, once Bennett matures and starts playing centre full time, is there a better balance of 1A/B centres to have than those two? Offensively creative, game driver pitbull guy and solid and steady 0.8 PPG guy?

It's perfect imo.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Shouldn't Monahan get 60 points more than once before we start proclaiming he's a consistent 60 point scorer?