Monahan vs. Bennett in a steel cage chutes and ladders match!

[Mobiandi]

I wish we could find a bonafide top line RWer just so we could roll with

Gaudreau-Monahan-x
Tkachuk-Bennett-Ferland

That second line would be so irritating for opposing teams

 

[Mr Snrub]

He did ok early on for roughly the first 5-10 games. He did not do very good the last 15-20 and the 4 play-off games.

He definitely fails the eye test as well. Watching him play he isn't constantly in the wrong place, isn't very fast, has an ok shot, doesn't create, is a poor passer. There's not much to be a fan of.

Most of this is flat out factually incorrect

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

He did ok early on for roughly the first 5-10 games. He did not do very good the last 15-20 and the 4 play-off games.

He definitely fails the eye test as well. Watching him play he isn't constantly in the wrong place, isn't very fast, has an ok shot, doesn't create, is a poor passer. There's not much to be a fan of.

Are you sure you are watching the right player? Ferland wears #79 FYI.

Then again you think Monahan has been the team's best forward the last 3 years, so maybe you just see things differently.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Monahan makes the players around him better. Bennett has looked good in the last 3 preseasons. But he has seemingly lost his confidence every year during the regular season, and then he proceeds to be invisible.

I could see Bennett being the better option down the road. But he has a lot to prove still IMO.

I also don't think we've seen the best of Sean Monahan yet. He needs to come out of the gate strong this year.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Monahan makes the players around him better. Bennett has looked good in the last 3 preseasons. But he has seemingly lost his confidence every year during the regular season, and then he proceeds to be invisible.

I could see Bennett being the better option down the road. But he has a lot to prove still IMO.

I also don't think we've seen the best of Sean Monahan yet. He needs to come out of the gate strong this year.

Good post, this is how I feel. It’s Monahan hands down right now, but that could change. People need to chill after 2 preseason games. I love Bennett though, the talk of dealing him this offseason was ridiculous. That kid plays the game the right way and is going to be a beast.

 

[Volica]

I honestly think this argument just goes to show Calgary still doesn't have a clear cut 1C.
Monahan isn't the guy; if he's out there against the other teams' best players, he'll spend the night in his own zone. He's a beauty scorer, but in a perfect world would spend time on a teams' second line, a la Kadri. Bennett isn't the guy yet; he's more or less been a positive player in the preseason and in the playoffs so far at centre. He's yet to show he can be a dominant force night in/out in the NHL.

Being honest, and I know it's preseason, what Calgary's showing here reminds me of the problems we've had over the past 10 years. There's not enough elite level talent at forward to make major noise. There's one top 5/10 wingers in the game and then after that a huge dropoff to elite caliber middle 6'ers at this stage. I really hope everyone gets to where they need to get and this team has no problems, but I honestly believe this team will live and die with its ability to just shut teams down completely.

 

[lightstorm]

It's hard to argue with people when they think Monahan is a 3rd line winger; like what are you supposed to say because that statement itself defies all logic and reason.

Like Bennett is a better defensive player than Monahan? What are you watching? Monahan plays defense for his entire line when he's out there and often has to play for his defense pairing too (he was often given Engelland/Wideman/Bart late last year), and he still gets the puck out.

It's criminal how underrated Monahan is in general on the HF boards; like I sort of understand the general HF people hating Monahan, they clearly never watch him (Bo Horvat is better??? in what ****ing world?); but how can Flames fans think Monahan is a 3rd line player?

It's lunacy.

It's hard to argue with people when they think Monahan is a 3rd line winger; like what are you supposed to say because that statement itself defies all logic and reason.

Like Bennett is a better defensive player than Monahan? What are you watching? Monahan plays defense for his entire line when he's out there and often has to play for his defense pairing too (he was often given Engelland/Wideman/Bart late last year), and he still gets the puck out.

It's criminal how underrated Monahan is in general on the HF boards; like I sort of understand the general HF people hating Monahan, they clearly never watch him (Bo Horvat is better??? in what ****ing world?); but how can Flames fans think Monahan is a 3rd line player?

It's lunacy.

The problem with Monahan is that hes not really fast and plays with the intensity of a kitten.

Bennett, like Johnny, plays more uptempo game, has more jam and thats what Gaudreau needs.

Play Monahan with Tkachuk so Tkachuk can provide that grit and is capable of making passes around the net for Mony to benefit from.

And let Backfro do their thing with Janko.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Monahan made some really good strides in his game last season. He took a step back to take 2 big ones forward. His defensive play really improved, and in the playoffs I saw a physical side to Monahan I’ve never seen before. If he can keep trending that way, it’s a very good thing for the Flames. I also agree that we have not seen the best from Monahan.

 

[Mr Snrub]

As good as Monahan and Gaudreau are together, Monahan and Tkachuk's styles work so well together that I kinda have to see it. I'm very afraid of what would happen to them against a fast team though.

 

[JPeeper]

Reading posts about Monahan from Flames fans really astounds me.

"plays like a kitten", yet stands in front of the net getting slashed, hooked, punched and hit all game long.
"is a defensive liability out there against top lines", yet has two linemates who couldn't spell defense because they don't know that the word exists, and was often out there with the 3rd d pairing for most of last year. Yet he still would often beat 3 guys to get the puck out of the zone.

Just because a player doesn't throw hits or mucks it up after every whistle means he plays soft. Monahan is the exact opposite of soft, watch any Flames game and he'll take more abuse than anyone on the team trying to get open for Gaudreau.


Flames finally after 20 years have 2 stud centerman and fans are either crapping all over them (Monahan), want them traded at 20 years old (Bennett), want them to play wing (Monahan and Bennett), have no patience to watch them grow as players when they aren't even 25 yet. Be mad that Bartowski has a legit shot to make the opening night roster, not over which of our stud players suck.