Where Does Monahan Play Next Season?

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

If Sam Gagner can make the show as an undersized pivot after his draft then Monahan could too.

Doesn't mean he necessarily should have.

[Caged Great]

I'd like to see him get his 9 games in and then go back to juniors for the season.

[Tinordi]

Didn't he have 40-50 points in his rookie year and hasn't he developed into a solid NHL center?

Just saying

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Didn't he have 40-50 points in his rookie year and hasn't he developed into a solid NHL center?

Just saying

Yeah 49 points his rookie year .... and hasn't eclipsed that mark since. His best year since was 2 years ago with 47, but almost 1/5th of those points came in a one game fluke. After being touted as a potential franchise centerman, he's settled into a role as a decent 2b/3a line, somewhat soft, player. Not terrible, but who knows what he might've achieved (better or worse) if he hasn't been rushed to the NHL. But I think the general consensus is it is safer to let them develop in junior than rush them into the NHL.

[Izzle]

Send him to the minors after his nine game stint. One more year of dominating jrs is going to be better. He making the flames to play third line minutes is what the oilers did with yakupov. Bad move.


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[bucksmasher]

I'd rather see him sent down just to void the chance of any speculation of him being rushed. We're all excited about the prospect pool right now but I'm willing to bet its going to be a dark and dismal winter in cow town. Combine a winter of depression with a struggling team and the notion of a damaged prospect and it I see negative consequences. He would have to have one hell of a 9 game break out to stay up IMO.

[Daradon]

I think it all depends on his camp. But I want him to really excel to make the team, be unquestionably one of the best players. If he's on that bubble I think it's better to wait.

He can also have a nine game trial before the organization decides.

[stang]

Tough call, same as with Gagner, I wish the AHL was an option. I think it hurts some of these jr players who are clearly top good for another year of Jr but aren't ready for the NHL.

[Stay Golden]

my hopes are that Monahan is so solid in the face off dot and shows the coaches he is ready to be a 200ft player at the NHL level.
Here is to Monahan making it clear to the coaches he should be on the 2013/14 regular Flames roster.
I believe Monahan will be given every opportunity in training camp and preseason to make the big club.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by stang

Tough call, same as with Gagner, I wish the AHL was an option. I think it hurts some of these jr players who are clearly top good for another year of Jr but aren't ready for the NHL.

I'm glad the AHL isn't an option, personally. At the same time, I think Monahan can still learn in junior.

In my view, unless he completely bombs at camp, he'll have 9 NHL games under his belt by the end of October. Whether he sticks or whether he goes back depends on his performance in those games.

[Fire]

Give him a taste of the NHL and send him down to the OHL. He'll play in WJC and probably get traded to a contender for a long playoff run.

No need to rush the guy.

[868904]

I've always thought that Monahan's description sounded very similar to Sean Couturier. Both big 2 way centres with good all around skills and some question regarding their skating and both spent 3 seasons in juniors already. They seem like similar prospects and that's why I'm expecting a similar development path, which would mean Monahan spending next season in the NHL and producing around 15 goals and 30 points.

[GGG]

If he does come to the NHL I think we should let him go back for the WJCs. Two weeks of hockey with a ton of ice time is good for development.

[PeteLFan]

He will compete for a job here, and right now he is our best centre.

[Bourque's Twin]

Players competing for C:
Backlund, Stajan, Monahan, Knight, Reinhart, B. Jones

Backlund and Stajan are the only guaranteed full-timers and they will be the #1/2 C's. that leaves Monohan, Knight, and Reinhart for 3rd C because Jones can really only play on the 4th. Mono seems like he could make it... Lets hope the Flames stay away from a UFA who can take his spot.

[foshizzle11]

Monahan will hopefully earn his spot and if he doesn't then back down to the jrs for the season. No big deal but I hope he is good enough to stay. Looking long term, no need to rush it!

I think our centres will be Backlund, Stajan, Monahan and Knight with Jones as the 5th in case of injury and such.

[RT14]

I don't understand the people pushing for him to play all next year. What is it you don't understand about the significance of wasting a year of his ELC on a team that his talents would be wasted on regardless if he's ready or not?

Just as an example:

-13/14 we suck, finish bottom 5 and Monahan wasted a year of his ELC and got 50 points because he was "ready"
-14/15 we suck, finish bottom 5 and our top pick from the last draft played along with Monahan
-15/16 we're starting to turn the corner, draft 12th. With the young talent we've amassed management feels they're ready to spend again and add some top veterans to lead this young group. Oh wait, what? Monahan wants 6.5 million already? WTF, how can we add the necessary pieces we need for a legit shot when we gotta pay our young guys all this money? Sure wish we had kept him back another year or two until we were really ready to go for it!

Now, if Monahan comes into camp and blows everyone out of the water and gives you no choice but to keep him up, fine, but call me crazy, I see him being a top 9 at best at this stage and for the life of me can't figure out WTF the point of keeping up on whats gonna be a crap team if that's the case.

[frinkprof]

I hope that the Flames sign a stopgap center or two, give Monahan 9 games and send him back to junior so he can work on leading his team (67s or whoever he might be traded to), and go to the World Junior Championships.

Calgary won't compete this year so it's a bit of a waste of both a developmental year and a contract year for Monahan. It's probably a tossup whether sticking with the NHL team is better than playing in the World Junior Championships, OHL playoffs and possibly Memorial Cup at his age.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

He will compete for a job here, and right now he is our best centre.

No he most certainly isn't

He has the most potential but he is 18 years old. Backlund and Stajan are significantly better than him. Reinhart and Horak are too - and probably Knight as well.

He needs to develop. That could mean here and it could mean the OHL. But it would be shocking if he is even close to Backlund this season.

[Heavy Jack]

I think he most definitely has a spot out of camp barring anything unexpected, injury, poor showing etc. The Flames need to go into this youth movement with most likely the best piece from the start of it and Monahan fills a major need for this team going into the new year.

Lots of options heading into the new year at center now:

Monahan
Backlund
Knight
Stajan
Reinhart

But none of them scream top line center yet apart from Monahan who is an obvious work in progress. I honestly think Stajan needs to be moved/let go and a true #1 threat at center be brought in to mentor Monahan/Backlund.

Centers available via UFA:
Riberio - 33
Lecavalier - 33
Briere - 35
Weiss - 30
Bozak - 27
Gomez - 33 (lol)

So out of that list Gomez is just a no, Bozak freaks me out, Briere is too small. Down to three. I didn't hate Riberio in Washington, one of the few guys who showed up for them while Ovi was being a b@#$@ and I think he could be had for 4.5ish maybe a bit more. He's got skill and the ability to distribute the puck putting up 49 pts with 36 assists in all 48 games last year. His knock against him for me is his size - 6' but only 180 lbs and his faceoff percentage sitting at 44 percent last year so that's a no for me.

So we find ourselves down to two. Vinny is still a powerful presence at center, big body at 6'4 208, still put up pretty good numbers last year with 32 in 39 and his faceoff percentage was a very good 54 percent with 404 won and good for 29th in the league overall. Term and amount scare me with this one though, especially considering the guy who would be offering the contract. If we do sign him it fulfills a true need going forward for the young group of players, and we do have cap space for him, I just hope its reasonable.

Let's not forget about Steven Weiss now either, 30 year old center who had terrible injury problems last year and probably the worst season of his career. He's 5'11 193 which does make him smallish and injury concerns more apparent but he does have skill with 6 straight 40 + point seasons, 1 of them being 50+ two of them 60+, and the place where Weiss really shined last year was the faceoffs. Despite just 17 games he took 276 faceoffs winning 51 percent of them putting him 60th overall in the east.

If it came down to it I'd be happy with either Weiss or Vinny, both would help serve a purpose in guiding our new centers in the line-up but if the price and term are reasonable I really hope we get Vinny:

Glencross - Lecavalier - Cammalleri
Baertschi - Backlund - Jones
Hudler - Monohan - Stempniak
Horak - Knight - Bouma
Reinhart/Hanowski

Brodie - Wideman
Cundari - Giordano
O'Brien - Ramage
Butler - Breen

Ramo
MacDonald

Tonnes of depth now. Our AHL team will finaly have some skill to use