Did you start following the NHL this season?
No and that is why I look at things on a much deeper level now. 35 pts in 49 games looks good but Dominik Kubalik had pretty decent stats too before this season. I wanted him traded before he even played a game for Ottawa and now he has been the worst regular forward on the Sens (Dorion had no idea what he was doing)
You probably said this because there's always a team stupid/desperate to pay that 1st but regarding advanced stats, I think every team is pretty much on it now
"Muh fancy stats don't look good"
Who cares, 35 pts in 49 games is all that matters.
17 ES pts mostly in the Habs Top-6
A playoff team looking to add a forward mostly likely already have 6 better forwards so they'd be looking at Monahan as a 3rd line player (IF they have a need). So modest ES production and horrible advanced metrics... it's not "fancy stats", it's pretty telling of what is happening when certain players are on the ice.
Tarasenko returned a 1st last year, he has 27 ES pts in 4 less games this season (and 19 ES pts in 38 games when he got traded) and some people don't think he'd return a 1st this year.
It's very possible that a team spends a 1st on Monahan, it depends on needs/market, doesn't mean it'd be a great investment.