Sean Monahan. Consistent performer from season to season.

[Fischy13]

Monny gets beat up for defensive zone, didn't Darryl Sutter compliment him immensely after a game against LA, saying he is one of the top centres in the western conference already, I think he may have said that in regards to his defensive game... anyone recall,that.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

He's actually much improved in his own end, still a ways to go but Gulutzen has him playing low in front of his own net when the picks in the Flames zone and it's starting to pay off.

I agree this season he was terrible, in all faucets, from the start until that hot stretch when Gaudreau got injured but his overall game outside of that ha been good. Work to do, but right trajectory.

Yeah. The Monahan of right now is orders of magnitude better defensively than before. It's not just in front of his own net.

Take Tkachuk last night for example. Made a bad pass that ended up on the wrong stick but forced the Devil's player into a bad position and he turned it over. Never even played in his own zone. To me, that's the kind of defensive work that gets you wins. Playing in your own end is great, but retrieving pucks and making plays to keep the puck are even more important

[MrMastodonFarm]

Really don't think we should be boiling things down to one singular play.

[mdubz]

Originally Posted by Fischy13

Monny gets beat up for defensive zone, didn't Darryl Sutter compliment him immensely after a game against LA, saying he is one of the top centres in the western conference already, I think he may have said that in regards to his defensive game... anyone recall,that.

http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/741011

The Los Angeles Kings may want to beat up on the Calgary Flames Thursday, but head coach Darryl Sutter had only kind words for one of the opposition's budding stars.

Following his team's practice Wednesday, the King's bench boss boasted about Flames' forward Sean Monahan.

"Everyone talks about the centermen in this conference and they don’t talk about Sean Monahan. They should," Sutter told reporters.

Sutter even went as far to suggest that the 20-year-old Monahan rivals some of the best all-around centers in the league.

"He's probably in that (Jonathan) Toews group in terms of that all-around guy who can play minutes and play situations and play against top guys," Sutter said.

Sutter makes a great point, Monahan leads the Flames with 31 goals to go along with 30 assists.

You can expect the Kings will pay extra attention to Monahan Thursday when the teams duke it out. The Kings trail the Flames by two points for third spot in the Pacific Division.

[CsInMyBlood]

I don't think anyone can argue Monahan had a horrible start. Just looked lost, turned the puck over, couldn't win a board battle, handled the puck like a hand grenade.

The Monahan we've seen over the last 10 is the Moneyhands we all know and love. Engaged, aware, skating miles and sniping the back of the net.

Love his game right now.

[Mike F]

To play devil's advocate, if we want Sean to be a true #1 centre, should we not be looking for consistent improvement in his production season to season, rather than just consistent consistency?

[nightfx]

Improvement isn't linear, he's only 22 so he has many years left to figure things out.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Mike F

To play devil's advocate, if we want Sean to be a true #1 centre, should we not be looking for consistent improvement in his production season to season, rather than just consistent consistency?

Well when you're already hitting 30 goals and 60 points it's hard to improve on those numbers year-to-year. Monahan might have some 70 point seasons in him but consistent yearly upticks in numbers is tough when your 30 goals and 60 points already sit you in the top 10-15 for your position.

Consistent improvement is other areas is more key.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Well when you're already hitting 30 goals and 60 points it's hard to improve on those numbers year-to-year. Monahan might have some 70 point seasons in him but consistent yearly upticks in numbers is tough when your 30 goals and 60 points already sit you in the top 10-15 for your position.

Consistent improvement is other areas is more key.

This is it for me. The year end numbers are fine, even great. But what is he doing when he's gone 10 games without a goal? His defensive play in the last 10-15 games is certainly improved, why isn't that there when he's not scoring (hint: his age). Hopefully he continues down that path and then we're a winning team.

A great number one center doesn't need to be a 90 point center

[malcolmk14]

Players drafted since 2011 (Points)

1. Gabriel Landeskog 2011 (263)
2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2011 (248)
3. Brandon Saad 2011 (217)
4. Mark Scheifele 2011 (198)
5. Nikita Kucherov 2011 (194)
6. Sean Monahan 2013 (193)
7. Ondrej Palat 2011 (191)
8. Alex Galchenyuk 2012 (188)
9. Nathan MacKinnon 2013 (186)
10. Johnny Gaudreau 2011 (177)

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Well when you're already hitting 30 goals and 60 points it's hard to improve on those numbers year-to-year. Monahan might have some 70 point seasons in him but consistent yearly upticks in numbers is tough when your 30 goals and 60 points already sit you in the top 10-15 for your position.

Consistent improvement is other areas is more key.

So you're fine with him being a 60 point guy? When, as you said, he hit 60 points in his 2nd year, my hopes were for that to be his starting point, not end point.

Again, I'm being something of a devil's advocate, and even with this year being somewhat disappointing, I'm not down on Monahan. But I do hope that he's pushing himself, and being pushed by those around him, to strive to be a top 5 centre year in and year out, not just a 10 to 15 guy.

[Erick Estrada]

He's never going to be that electrifying center like McDavid and to me he's looking like he could be more of a Patrice Bergeron type of center which is nothing to sneeze at given he's a pretty underrated player.

If you go to HF Canucks they are all pretty positive if that draft is done over again Horvat is picked ahead of Monahan.

[aiy_yah]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

I don't think anyone can argue Monahan had a horrible start. Just looked lost, turned the puck over, couldn't win a board battle, handled the puck like a hand grenade.

The Monahan we've seen over the last 10 is the Moneyhands we all know and love. Engaged, aware, skating miles and sniping the back of the net.

Love his game right now.

Agree with this post. I, for one, was bashing Monny because of that, not the scoring. He looked slow, looked lost, didn't appear engaged. He's been noticeably better in all 3 areas and now the scoring spree is back on. Really happy to see that.

[Corral]

Some here have consistently placed Monahan below Gaudreau in terms of importance to the Flames ... something I've never understood given his size, position, and production.

[Flash Walken]

For the first 15-20 games he looked like a player with a back injury.

Short strides, weak board play, lack of jump.

[automaton 3]

^Yep, and no sauce on his wrist shot too.

Looks like his old self now though.

[GoJetsGo]

No doubt Monahan had a slow start this year after starting with that injury, the weighted expectation of the new contract etc.

I don't think anyone can deny that.

My problem was with the handful of peanut gallery types here who inevitably started with the "maybe this is what he actually is" comments during that time, insisting it's evidence he'll never be a "true No. 1 Centre".

The same peons who dismiss Brodie's several seasons of elite play and now put forth the idea he's more likely what we're seeing this season and that the much larger sample size was just the fan base over-rating him.

Monahan is both a fantastic player with loads of potential - and a young developing player who will (from time to time) struggle with consistency as he matures. Patience and perspective are the two keys when examining young players like this, and for whatever reason, there's a very vocal minority contingent of this fan base who are consistently devoid of both those things.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

...If you go to HF Canucks they are all pretty positive if that draft is done over again Horvat is picked ahead of Monahan.

Hahaha!

That is patently ridiculous. Horvat is having a revelation, break-out season and is still behind Monahan in points, and well behind him in goals in a year in which Monahan has been occasionally disappointing.

[Flash Walken]

The other aspect that made him look worse to start the year is Gulutzan has the centres playing deeper in the offensive and defensive zones which means the centres are expected to skate a lot more than under Hartley's system.

You ask a guy to skate miles with a bad back and he's going to look awful doing it.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Monaghan hasn't concerned me at all. He's struggled at times this year, and I'm sure we would have all loved to see his production offensively jump this year versus being flat, but he's maintained his performance while as many have pointed out, playing a new more difficult system for centers, improved FO%, more attention from the opposition and more responsibility.

He's progressing nicely, Flames fans need to stop complaining about this guy. He's already good and is very much a work in progress as a young player.