Having a top-line center in this league isn’t just important. It’s a necessity. When you are a strong team down the middle, it makes for an easy time building out the rest of the roster. Hitting on your picks and making sure that you develop your own talent is critical and the Flames have been rebuilding and following that plan nicely.
Is the recent big investment in Sean Monahan savvy or just an attempt at dressing up a middling player?
Monahan came into the league right from the OHL. He played on a bad Ottawa 67’s team that never lived up to expectations. Monahan himself had good numbers but they were never particularly gaudy. He was steady on a team that was lacking a steady player. His jump to the NHL wasn’t entirely unexpected but his play seemed to call for another year in junior hockey.
His development has been great since joining the NHL and one of the players he has been compared to multiple times throughout his career was Nathan MacKinnon, a fellow center who was drafted in the same year as Monahan. It is fitting then that the two got similar deals. Monahan’s deal is 7 years and 6.375 million dollars annually, just 75k more than MacKinnon’s deal. Let’s take a look at both of their stats and see how they compare to one another. Are they big fish in a small pond or legitimate first-line centers?
What a fascinating comparison between the two. Monahan has been scoring like crazy and because of it, his rate stats have shown that he is in fact a good-scoring center. Meanwhile, MacKinnon has more of a possession style to his game that will likely reflect well on his future longevity. Both players were on terrible possession teams and probably suffered from it, nonetheless they still performed. MacKinnon isn’t the complete package yet as he is only toying with the idea of becoming one of the best in the game. They will both benefit from different coaches as well. One can only assume that both will improve with more offensive-minded coaches.
Monahan is still only 21 and can improve from here. He could be near the upper echelon of centers in the league. The troubling part is his possession metrics that have him as a bottom-six type player. As the Flames continue to be on the fringe, Monahan joins them. He is right on the fringe of becoming great.
Every team can use a player like Monahan and an investment like him is well worth the risk. He will need time and seasoning. Seven years with the Flames should give him more than enough time to reach his full potential. Calgary fans better hope he hasn’t already become the best he can be.
