Why is Monahan on the 4th line?

[SeanMoneyHands]

Is it because he's fallen down the depth chart, out of the top 6? Or because Suter wants balance?

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[Ace Rimmer]

Flames brass need to know if this is a playoff team without Monahan in the top six, so they can trade him for Eichel.


More likely easing him back into a more prominent role, after dealing with two years of significant injuries.

 

[IGGY2JOHNNY]

Can’t have him playing too many minutes and risking injury before he’s traded to Buffalo ….

 

[FLAMESFAN]

5 games in, 0 points, -4 and only 6 shots.

 

[BobColesNasalCavity]

We haven’t lost since he went there so let’s not say anything else about it

 

[User1996]

Hopefully when Richardson gets healthy they bump Mony to wing with Dube and Mangiapane with Richardson at 4C. I can’t watch Ritchie do largely nothing anymore.

 

[Darth Vladar]

Hopefully when Richardson gets healthy they bump Mony to wing with Dube and Mangiapane with Richardson at 4C. I can’t watch Ritchie do largely nothing anymore.

I don't think Ritchie's been nearly as ineffective as some around here seem to think, but I do agree it's worth putting Mony with Mangi and Dube to see if we can get him going. Backlund - Coleman - Pitlick seems to be working out fairly well.

 

[Khrox]

I don't think Ritchie's been nearly as ineffective as some around here seem to think

It's not that Ritchie is ineffective. He's just ineffective as a top 9 forward. Pretty much everyone would be happy with his play (and perhaps even ecstatic with it) if he were playing the fourth line.

 

[Anglesmith]

The team is clicking like this, and getting Monahan his points isn't a higher priority than winning.

 

[Darth Vladar]

The team is clicking like this, and getting Monahan his points isn't a higher priority than winning.

100% this.

 

[TheHudlinator]

He is the new Bennett, would much rather move him to wing and bump Ritchie down out of top 6.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

He is the new Bennett, would much rather move him to wing and bump Ritchie down out of top 6.

He will get going. Health really is his biggest thing.

 

[TheHudlinator]

He will get going. Health really is his biggest thing.

My problem is he has always been a streaky guy but playing on the 4th isn't going to help him get going.

 

[User1996]

He’s still been your 3rd most used C since the switch, but realistically I think he’s done everything Sutter has likely asked of him since the demotion…engaging more and winning more luck battles mainly. Just a matter of time before he’s back in the top 9

 

[JPeeper]

5 games in, 0 points, -4 and only 6 shots.

That's what happens when you play with 34-36 year old grinders.

Has anyone honestly even watched him play this year? He has had dangerous chances the past 3 games and would easily have 3 more points if his line mates weren't bums. He is making a lot of good and dangerous passes in the offensive zone and is getting his shot off on his own.

 

[Nanuuk]

My problem is he has always been a streaky guy but playing on the 4th isn't going to help him get going.

I think it will. He is learning how to grunt it out while he gets his legs back. His scoring will return because that's something that's God given.

I also wonder if he was injured to a degree by that from behind hit from Sack Kaasian in the first game.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Suckahan

 

[Kranix]

Is it because he's fallen down the depth chart, out of the top 6? Or because Suter wants balance?

Why has Monahan fallen down the depth chart? Is it because he's fallen down the depth chart?

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Monahan isn't on the fourth line, Lucic and Lewis are on the second line. Sean Monahan doesn't need Johnny Gaudreau to score, he's a real #1 center with patented Hockey IQ, unlike bottom six wingers who have no Hockey IQ, Monahan gets in all the scoring areas and that's why you can put him with anyone and he'll give you 30 goals and 30 assists a year. In fact now that he's been freed from that soft undersized winger on his LW, you can expect the guy who used to have the most goals of his draft class to continue being a legit #1 center who scores real game winners because he's so clutch.

Has anyone honestly even watched him play this year?

No, when Monahan is on the screen my TV does a Tienshinhan SOLAR FLARE on my eyes until the next line's shift starts.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I think it will. He is learning how to grunt it out while he gets his legs back. His scoring will return because that's something that's God given.

I also wonder if he was injured to a degree by that from behind hit from Sack Kaasian in the first game.

Unless he's reunited with Gaudreau, I don't see a world where his scoring returns to anything close to where he was at before.

That's what happens when you play with 34-36 year old grinders.

Has anyone honestly even watched him play this year? He has had dangerous chances the past 3 games and would easily have 3 more points if his line mates weren't bums. He is making a lot of good and dangerous passes in the offensive zone and is getting his shot off on his own.

Didn't you dismiss this exact argument when it was Sam Bennett who was buried with terrible linemates?

 

[Some Other Flame]

His shot is gone. He's had a number of decent scoring opportunities, even with Lucic & Lewis, but can't convert. Maybe it comes back, maybe the injuries don't let it. Right now however the overall consternation is unsettling. Team's on a role and that's a lot more important than getting one guy going, which might not even be possible anymore.

Ritchie is definitely not a top nine player. However he's put alongside Mangiapane and Dube, two smaller offense orientated players for a reason. And the lack of that reason is also why Sutter doesn't want Monahan beside them.

 

[Mazatt]

I figure Monahan has two reasons to be 4th lining it without being used as a top 9 winger. 1. Sutter wants to see how he fares as a centre with no offensive pressure, and genuinely wants to determine if he has what it takes to be a fundamentally solid NHLer, or 2. Sees him as a centre long-term, but Dube needs reps at centre and it's easier to do that early on when Monahan is acclimating off of two big surgeries.

As for Monahan's play itself... eh. Invisible, unnoticeable. I make it a point to try and pay attention to what Flames players are doing on each shift and the most notable parts to Monahan for me are getting involved in a board battle, flipping an errant pass to someone who can't take a pass, or delivering a good pass to someoen who can't take it, stickhandling in the offensive zone waiting for openings that never come from linemates/his own ability to get by defenders, or sometimes, he gets a good chance due to good puck movement overall and can't bury it per usual. He just isn't super noticeable without trying outright to notice him. Doesn't mean he's bad or good, but while his puckhandling isn't grenade-like anymore he still has some noticeable deficiencies in taking passes not right on his tape or just a lack of ability to penetrate anything offensively barring being lost offensively. 4th line still feels about right for where his play as a centre is rn

 

[Volica]

His play hasn’t been horrible or anything.
Nice seeing him get a point.

 

[Mobiandi]

He's on the 4th line because he's the 3rd or 4th best at everything asked of a centre to do.

The PP1 time is a carrot dangled to motivate him to improve his game

 

[Bounces R Way]

He knows what he did