[News] Monahan knows what's on the line this season: 'I have a lot to prove'

[JTech780]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Two games, then - point is, he was noticeable.

He moves well, he’s in good position in his own zone, and he plays with a stick that’s not made for someone six inches shorter. He’s not without skill.

9 points in 21 games, +6 and strong possession numbers while playing mostly with Richardson, Lewis, Ritchie or Lucic.

Monahan has 22 points in 56 games, -15, with prime unchallenged PP time prior to Toffoli’s arrival.

Ruzicka has 28 games to cement his status. Darryl won’t just hand him the job, but Adam won’t ever get a better chance to win it.

They have the same amount of points at 5v5, 9, but Ruzicka has 5 goals to Monahan's 3.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Two games, then - point is, he was noticeable.

He moves well, he’s in good position in his own zone, and he plays with a stick that’s not made for someone six inches shorter. He’s not without skill.

9 points in 21 games, +6 and strong possession numbers while playing mostly with Richardson, Lewis, Ritchie or Lucic.

Monahan has 22 points in 56 games, -15, with prime unchallenged PP time prior to Toffoli’s arrival.

Ruzicka has 28 games to cement his status. Darryl won’t just hand him the job, but Adam won’t ever get a better chance to win it.

I know what you're saying. And I don’t necessarily disagree. But I doubt 2 games are going to sway Sutter, nor should they. And he’s had Ruzicka on a really short leash. Ruzicka still makes a lot of rookie moves that aren’t obvious but are the things Sutter doesn’t like. I suspect he hated that penalty as well. Ruzicka deserves a long look, but I wouldn’t think with Dube and Mangiapane.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

For whatever reason, the Kraken don’t seem to have any interest in exploiting their cap space.

Well, they just cut a check for $650 million (or whatever it was), so it's fairly understandable that they're keeping the purse strings pretty tight

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

With one year left on his deal we have to hope a team would consider taking him back in a trade where they can put him in a top line role and hopefully rebuild some value to flip again as a rental next year. Arizona, or Seattle make sense to me. Seattle specifically because they don’t have much in the system and can give Monahan some decent minutes.

Monahan + pick + prospect for Jarnkrok would be ideal for the Flames short and long term goals

The other reason SEA makes sense is they only have one decent rental to sell at next year's TDL (Donskoi). They should probably be looking to move Gourde sooner than later to maximize his return, which opens up a C spot. I'm still not sure it will be necessary to move Monahan until the off-season, though. A lot can happen between now and then (better, worse, LTIR, etc.).

I think SEA could/should also be interested in Phillips. He's got more pts in the AHL than any of their players there (as does Gawdin), and SEA should have a a few open forward slots to fill out the season.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

One thing we can consider is the corpse of Duncan Keith was moved at full cap hit for 2 years and brought back an asset.

Sean Monahan is going to be 28 next year and has had a really successful career to date. Some injuries and not fitting with the coaches style have put him in a negative territory but I am not convinced it is as bad as you think.

A fresh start and low risk acquisition is not going to cost the Flames a top prospect I wouldn’t think.

While I agree that Keith was hugely overvalued, there seemed to be some thought that his pedigree ocould play huge if the Oilers made the playoffs.

While I think his time has passed, Keith was a different beast come playoff time.

I'm not sure it's a fair comparison.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

For whatever reason, the Kraken don’t seem to have any interest in exploiting their cap space.

I think they would, but it has to be in a deal that makes sense.

They won't spend it like a drunken sailor.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

While I agree that Keith was hugely overvalued, there seemed to be some thought that his pedigree ocould play huge if the Oilers made the playoffs.

While I think his time has passed, Keith was a different beast come playoff time.

I'm not sure it's a fair comparison.

Only if there was some assaulted black ace who needed to be ignored.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

I think they would, but it has to be in a deal that makes sense.

They won't spend it like a drunken sailor.

Yeah, but Monahan’s cap hit wouldn’t be much for them because it’s only one year (that comes at a super bad time for calgary).

[redforever]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I tend to agree he’s not as bad as the hyperbole. The critical error leading to a goal has magnified it a bit. But most of the time while he’s not producing, there aren’t a lot of gaffes either. It’s low event hockey (maybe no event hockey a lot of the time) and he still looks ok on the second unit and can win a faceoff. There’s always someone who thinks he will turn around on their team. Look at the number of people that want the shell of Phil Kessel here.

He is certainly way better than Dube. Monahan at least has hockey sense.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by redforever

He is certainly way better than Dube. Monahan at least has hockey sense.

Dube’s hockey IQ has greatly disappointed me. I thought he’d be the opposite of what he has shown so far.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Yeah, but Monahan’s cap hit wouldn’t be much for them because it’s only one year (that comes at a super bad time for calgary).

Sure, but they won’t take on that cap for fun, they will charge a decent price.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

While I agree that Keith was hugely overvalued, there seemed to be some thought that his pedigree ocould play huge if the Oilers made the playoffs.

While I think his time has passed, Keith was a different beast come playoff time.

I'm not sure it's a fair comparison.

It only takes 1 GM to pull a trigger. I think it's entirely likely someone pays a 5th with conditions that could upgrade to a 3rd.

There aren't many bad deals expiring next year - at least on good teams that need to ditch them (Okposo/Ladd already on bad teams)

Zucker - 5.5 AAV, $5.2M

Hornqvist - 5.3M both (FLA only has about 4.5M to fill 8-9 slots

Foligno - 3.8M; $1M SB then 2.8 salary; BOS isn't too tight on the cap though

Connolly - 3.5M both; CHI has plenty of space


Hornqvist is the best player, but on the team most desperate to dump.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Dube’s hockey IQ has greatly disappointed me. I thought he’d be the opposite of what he has shown so far.

Yeah but IQ doesn't mean much of your body can't keep up with your hockey brain.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Yeah but IQ doesn't mean much of your body can't keep up with your hockey brain.

I know it's an extreme point to make, but Jaromir Jagr is a prime example that this thought process is false.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

I know it's an extreme point to make, but Jaromir Jagr is a prime example that this thought process is false.

Monahan doesn't have a butt that bounces other players off him while he's fishing in the corners.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Gaudreau was a huge factor of course. But I do think his shot is not what it was, and I’m not really talking velocity. Even last year under injury he fired a few hard ones. And he did have a vintage goal not long ago, correct. But I think that the limbs may feel different from game to game and even within a game for him. The whiff the other night and the strip by Ovie last night looked like his wrist strength wasn’t there.

You know - press never asks Sutter bluntly what’s wrong with him. I bet you’d get an interesting answer. Sutter has been supportive but he hasn’t been asked this year.

Yeah we’ll probably have to agree to disagree, I don’t think his wrists are a problem at all. They’re certainly not an issue at the dot. He scored a career high 34 goals after his wrist surgery.

To me, it’s more simple, something I’ve been critical of him in the past about, which is his inability to create his own shot. Sure, when he’s wide open with time and space, his shot looks great. But he’s not the type of player who can pull the puck to his side or change the angle of shot, so his shot ends up being telegraphed all the time. I’ve seen this problem from him dating back to his rookie year. That’s why he needs an elite playmaker on his wing, because he’s not a natural goal scorer. He wasn’t a big time goal scorer in juniors either, it was Toffoli who was the sniper between the 2 and even he’s only hit the 30 mark once.

As for the turnover yesterday, that had more to do with something else I’ve been critical of him in the past which is his puck carrying ability. Any other player might have instead went from forehand to backhand to make that pass to get around the forechecker, instead Monahan tries to pass the puck through said forechecker. Not the ideal play there and it highlights his lack of puck skills which has also been evident in his game since day 1. He’s never really had the dynamic stickhandling skills to pull off moves in tight, that’s not his game.

Injured or no non-injured, Monahan would still be struggling to produce right now in my opinion. His current performance is not all that different from his 2016 performance while Gaudreau was sidelined with that hand injury. I’ve pointed this out several times where he was almost scratched by Glen Gulutzan for his poor play and his play right now is very reminiscent of that 10 game stretch. I don’t know if Darryl would be willing to do it or not, but Darryl may just have to send Monahan to press box if he continues to allow goals at this rate.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Monahan doesn't have a butt that bounces other players off him while he's fishing in the corners.

Jagr couldn’t do what Jagr does if he played with a stick made for a dwarf.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

I know it's an extreme point to make, but Jaromir Jagr is a prime example that this thought process is false.

I don’t think I would be using Jagr to prove theses types of points.

The man was a beast and the ultimate outlier.

[Northendzone]

i feel like monahan has proved that he is way overpaid, and that he is now jsut a fourth liner.

sad, as he is only what 28? should be in his prime.

wonder if him taking a year off would help him heal and get strong again - but it would likely be hard to come back from that.

[CroFlames]

I don't think he's going anywhere this year. It would be too hard to move him and you are selling low. Brad will have to live with this and go into the playoffs with a subpar Mony.



Hopefully Darryl can find uses for him during the stretch and into the playoffs, then you trade him during the offseason, unless he has a monster playoff.