John Gove: Calgary has a Sean Monahan problem

Thank you John and also all the contributors for your (frequent!) blogs. They're a great distraction from all the crap we're dealing with these days.
Treliving has not spent the summer finding pieces for Sutter. Imo, Treliving has spent the summer getting pieces that Sutter has told him he needs.
If Sutter didn't think Monahan would help he'd be gone by now.
People should try a bit harder to understand what kind of a human being Sutter is before they turn this into a math equation.
He will set Monahan up to succeed unlike what other coaches have done to him recently.
It won't surprise me one bit to see Monahan have the best year yet.
I believe Monahan is willing to work hard and wants to be the best he can be. Sutter sees that and will hold him to it.
Just my two cents.

John Gove: Calgary has a Sean Monahan problem
- John Gove

Holy smokes John nice try leading readers down to the glass half empty perception.
I guess this is your opinion but I am coming right out & telling you I dont think much of the content of this blog.

Oh my he only scored 10 goals in like 50 games & they had to shut him down because he just couldnt play through a bad hip & had surgery on it. Cmon quit cherry picking to support your narrative. I can do that too. Kucherov did ok coming off hip surgery & not playing all year. So can Monahan. Monahan is 26 played 8 seasons, 7 season he hasnt had less than 22 goals!! 7 out of 8 seasons!!! You judge him & play this dark narrative on him as a player because last year, in the fewest games he has played in a season his whole career, injured too boot, you paint this doom & gloom as a player. This is bull crap. You're better than this.

& dont tell me he's injury prone because maybe take a moment & look at the stats & the games played & he obviously plays through injury & can still score 20+goals even then.
Rant done.

Thanks John
Monahan is not the problem, he's done nothing but score goals his whole career. Even when hurt he's put up points, last year was different. Hip injures are very painful, if you've ever had one you'll know what I'm talking about. Playing hockey with a hip injury is even worse. Let's hope he's back to playing pain free.

If the Flames were trying to move him, it would not be a problem. Many teams would line up for a chance to acquire a 25-30 goal scorer. 6.375 for 2 more years is a good value for him.

Sutter had him playing on the penalty kill last year for the first time in his career. I'd agree with the above statement that he'll be put in a position to succeed and could have his best year yet.

Monahan is a Sutter type of player so he's going no where.

I 100% agree that Monny is a problem; A BIG problem! He doesnt drive the play or create any offence. Hes pretty much just a trigger man who used to bury beautiful passes created by Johnny Hockey. Last season we seen how lackluster his defensive game is, and his face off win percentage is terrible. Ontop of all of that, he does not block shots or kill penalties. I am in favour for moving him out of town. Hopefully Buffalo will bite, but Monny may not waive his No trade clause. Look at any competitive team in the league, it is built around top flight centerman who drive the play. Monny has no comparison to any of them

I totally agree. Monahan is Treliving's biggest problem. To be able to trade him, we will have to retain part of his salary. He scores goals but must have the perfect line mates to do so. Asking him to do something else on the ice reduces his goal production. Many nights, he looks lost. He can't keep up with the pace and speed of the NHL.

I totally agree. Monahan is Treliving's biggest problem. To be able to trade him, we will have to retain part of his salary. He scores goals but must have the perfect line mates to do so. Asking him to do something else on the ice reduces his goal production. Many nights, he looks lost. He can't keep up with the pace and speed of the NHL.
- drogon

Retain salary
Have you ever had a hip injury?

Monahan is weird to say the least. He certainly doenst drive play, and he never has. Dont know why people expect that now. Mony is nomally around the 52 percent range i think for faceoffs, not as terrible as perceived, but not great. Taking faceoffs with a hip i injury hurrrrts man, trust ive been there. Anyways, advanced stats* (i dont care much about them) say mony has borderline top 1, great top 2 c numbers since he arrived in the league. All the injuries is annoying but here hoping he will return to form this year. I think he will excel under sutter as well, however i didnt expect him to be around still.

I like ripping on Flames players more than most, but holy jump(frank) hell…

Monahan has easily been one of, if not THEE most consistent scorer of his draft class. He’s certainly been THEE most consistent scorer for the Flames since he cracked the roster in 2013. And despite all that, you’re gonna poop on him for having a down year whilst playing for two VASTLY different coaches, AND a hip injury that required corrective surgery?

Retain salary
Have you ever had a hip injury?
- K-man25

yep nasty.

I like ripping on Flames players more than most, but holy jump(frank) hell…

Monahan has easily been one of, if not THEE most consistent scorer of his draft class. He’s certainly been THEE most consistent scorer for the Flames since he cracked the roster in 2013. And despite all that, you’re gonna poop on him for having a down year whilst playing for two VASTLY different coaches, AND a hip injury that required corrective surgery?



- Wildschwein

No sh!t!1 I dont ever recall Brett Hull or Martin St Louis or Mike Bossy ever driving the play. Those fckers just flat out scored goals. We have one & freaking Flame fans want to run him out of town & even pay him to score against us. Holy fck, sometimes I have a hard time just reading some of these hockey boards.

I like ripping on Flames players more than most, but holy jump(frank) hell…

Monahan has easily been one of, if not THEE most consistent scorer of his draft class. He’s certainly been THEE most consistent scorer for the Flames since he cracked the roster in 2013. And despite all that, you’re gonna poop on him for having a down year whilst playing for two VASTLY different coaches, AND a hip injury that required corrective surgery?



- Wildschwein

If you like him so much....Would you trade Barzel for him straight up?

If you like him so much....Would you trade Barzel for him straight up?
- hotshotbeer

No, but that’s because I think Barzal is the better player. Which isn’t a knock on Monahan, who certainly isn’t a “problem” as your blogger suggests.

No, but that’s because I think Barzal is the better player. Which isn’t a knock on Monahan, who certainly isn’t a “problem” as your blogger suggests.
- Wildschwein

Nah, Monahan ain't poop

Calgary kind of got very lucky having a playmaking winger that drives play in Johnny and a oppurtunist goal scoring center in Monahan. Very rare to find two players that work together that well.

Monahans only real "problem" is both he and Johnny are more elite second liners than all purpose 2 way top line threats that can play in any situation.

True "elite" first line centers are rare. You draft them typically and that's it.

But Calgary would have been well served even getting Danault.

If you like him so much....Would you trade Barzel for him straight up?
- hotshotbeer

That's your argument? Really?
Only the former Oiler GM would trade Barzel for Monahan.

We are all Flames fans. The big question is, do we want to become a contender and get closer to the cup or stay in limbo like the last twenty years. John is right, our centre line is too weak with Lindholm and a declining Backlund. You win the cup with a strong centre line. In the prospects pool we have Zary working on his skating and I've read a few times that we could try Pelletier at centre in the AHL. But these aren't true #1, you get that player in the draft. I think after decades it would be time for us to steer back the ship in the right direction.

We are all Flames fans. The big question is, do we want to become a contender and get closer to the cup or stay in limbo like the last twenty years. John is right, our centre line is too weak with Lindholm and a declining Backlund. You win the cup with a strong centre line. In the prospects pool we have Zary working on his skating and I've read a few times that we could try Pelletier at centre in the AHL. But these aren't true #1, you get that player in the draft. I think after decades it would be time for us to steer back the ship in the right direction.
- drogon

Not disagreeing with you at all. You know this management group isn't doing the rebuild thing. We didn't sign Markstrom for 6 or Tanev for 4 to rebuild. Flames have been mediocre for so many years, not crappy enough to get a top 3 pick but not good enough to make noise in the playoffs. If anything it's been a patchwork of decisions and picks hoping for that spark. I'd love to see them land that true #1 center but at what cost? We retooled with the Monahan draft and the luck of McJohnny in the 4th, Hamilton trade, then the Lindholm/Hanifin trade, things were looking pretty good when we finished 1st in the west that year. We've finally got some prospects that should help in the long run. Do you trade all that away to get a #1? Or do we stay the course and keep finishing 12-20th?
I do know you don't trade just for the sake of trading. Draft picks are great but they are not guaranteed.

Not disagreeing with you at all. You know this management group isn't doing the rebuild thing. We didn't sign Markstrom for 6 or Tanev for 4 to rebuild. Flames have been mediocre for so many years, not crappy enough to get a top 3 pick but not good enough to make noise in the playoffs. If anything it's been a patchwork of decisions and picks hoping for that spark. I'd love to see them land that true #1 center but at what cost? We retooled with the Monahan draft and the luck of McJohnny in the 4th, Hamilton trade, then the Lindholm/Hanifin trade, things were looking pretty good when we finished 1st in the west that year. We've finally got some prospects that should help in the long run. Do you trade all that away to get a #1? Or do we stay the course and keep finishing 12-20th?
I do know you don't trade just for the sake of trading. Draft picks are great but they are not guaranteed.
- K-man25

No one is saying Monahan is a terrible player either. He just isnt the right guy to take this team to the next level. Lindholm is the perfect #2 center who can play in all situations. Backlund is a solid #3 shut down center. If we can package Monahan, dube, zary and 1st to buffalo for Eichel, then I think Tre should defenitly pull the trigger.

As a Sabres fan I did have to check into this article especially since Calgary keeps popping up in the rumors. But I highly doubt they would take Sean Monahan back. All signs to this team this year is our general manager is trying to get younger. Not take older veterans unless they have only one year left on their contract and can be flipped at the deadline. The way things are going right now in Buffalo other than our goalies LOL the oldest guy on our team might be Jack eichel who turns 25 in October. Plus when one guy is writing for their home teams put out articles like this my first reaction at least until after I read the fan comments in here was that they can keep him. We still have two years of Kyle okposo and six years of Jeff Skinner the last thing we want is another contract for someone on the downward trajectory. There are many pieces in Calgary that I wouldn't mind getting for Jack so if you guys are rooting for this I'll root for you as well. I certainly want him to go to the west and not the Rangers. In all honesty us fans in buffalo are pretty fed up with this whole Jack nonsense, I'd give you him straight up for a first-round , Connor Zary and Matthew tkachuk but that's just a pissed-off armchair quarterback talking LOL. But it's more likely that our general manager is asking for those three pieces and three more and that's why nothing's happened yet. On another note maybe you Calgary guys need to request a new writer LOL at least the Buffalo blogger doesn't throw guys under the bus until they have 2 injury-riddled season

Not disagreeing with you at all. You know this management group isn't doing the rebuild thing. We didn't sign Markstrom for 6 or Tanev for 4 to rebuild. Flames have been mediocre for so many years, not crappy enough to get a top 3 pick but not good enough to make noise in the playoffs. If anything it's been a patchwork of decisions and picks hoping for that spark. I'd love to see them land that true #1 center but at what cost? We retooled with the Monahan draft and the luck of McJohnny in the 4th, Hamilton trade, then the Lindholm/Hanifin trade, things were looking pretty good when we finished 1st in the west that year. We've finally got some prospects that should help in the long run. Do you trade all that away to get a #1? Or do we stay the course and keep finishing 12-20th?
I do know you don't trade just for the sake of trading. Draft picks are great but they are not guaranteed.
- K-man25

Yeah, we're starting to have a decent prospect pool. I'm glad we kept all of our picks this year. Every pick is important. The Lightning is a world class organization, they got Kucherov at # 58 in 2011 & Point at # 79 in 2014.

As a Sabres fan I did have to check into this article especially since Calgary keeps popping up in the rumors. But I highly doubt they would take Sean Monahan back. All signs to this team this year is our general manager is trying to get younger. Not take older veterans unless they have only one year left on their contract and can be flipped at the deadline. The way things are going right now in Buffalo other than our goalies LOL the oldest guy on our team might be Jack eichel who turns 25 in October. Plus when one guy is writing for their home teams put out articles like this my first reaction at least until after I read the fan comments in here was that they can keep him. We still have two years of Kyle okposo and six years of Jeff Skinner the last thing we want is another contract for someone on the downward trajectory. There are many pieces in Calgary that I wouldn't mind getting for Jack so if you guys are rooting for this I'll root for you as well. I certainly want him to go to the west and not the Rangers. In all honesty us fans in buffalo are pretty fed up with this whole Jack nonsense, I'd give you him straight up for a first-round , Connor Zary and Matthew tkachuk but that's just a pissed-off armchair quarterback talking LOL. But it's more likely that our general manager is asking for those three pieces and three more and that's why nothing's happened yet. On another note maybe you Calgary guys need to request a new writer LOL at least the Buffalo blogger doesn't throw guys under the bus until they have 2 injury-riddled season
- Jetsabre24

I disagree, John is doing a good job. This is the kind of blog that we need to create a good debate.

Was Backlund ever a 2C? I always thought of him as an ideal 3C who ended up at 2C from lack of depth at C.

Treliving also looked devastated at the draft - and my theory is that they wanted C Sillinger. If we don't make the playoffs, the Flames will try to draft a quality Center next year again to fix this issue. Not getting Sillinger might have been a major short coming, (and possible turning point, considering the complications with Eichel & no other alternative out there) in Treliving's mind. This might give us insight into how management foresees Zary's ceiling - perhaps more of a 2C/3C. If worst comes to worst, they could throw Coleman at C and let that play itself out.

Tre has to suck it up and give up one or two first round picks to get a quality center, if they want this group to make a push. If it works out, those 1sts will only be late 1st round picks anyway.

I disagree, John is doing a good job. This is the kind of blog that we need to create a good debate.
- drogon

Defensive. The Buffalo fan does raise a good point about his perspective on Monahan.. I don't think he literally meant to get rid of John either, relax..