Player Discussion: Sean Monahan

[stevo61]

Some " recent " highlights of Monahan



I know hockey players aren't the most exciting, but holy monotone interview

You ever see the boring Sean Monahan twitter account?

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

I don't love it but I don't hate it. The Roslovic comparison is pretty apt - it's a bit more money and a bit more risk, but at least it's a change and a new piece to play with, especially if it means changes to how we can utilize Boone. Also hopefully the same contract length as Johnny is helpful off-ice to both of them.

 

[CBJ goalie]

Per usual people will complain about the player, term, cost, whatever in a new signing yet cry when their favorite player (who btw hasn’t contributed to a winning culture since he has been here) is removed from the team via trade, waivers, or release
Yet the new signing will quickly become a fan favorite the moment he hits the ice in the CBJ colors.
Whatever
Welcome to the club Sean. Happy to have you and happy that you want to be here
Best wishes for a long healthy and productive career with the Jackets
We will be rooting for you

You nailed it. You f***ing nailed it.

I am far less down on this contract than a lot of people here.

Term: in a world where GMs typically hand out free agent contracts to players taking them to their 37+ age, we signed a guy that takes him to his 34 age. That's a win in today's NHL.

Dollars: $5.5M per season, maybe it's an overpay but if we had kept Tex and Bean, I think they would have totaled the same amount of salary. That means we basically swapped a 4th line energy/PK forward who chokes every time he gets promoted and a defenseman barely holding on to a 3rd pairing pairing job for a guy who will start as our 1C and likely slide down to 2C in the next couple years. I call that smart roster management.

Other options: I don't see any other great answers out there in UFA-land and nobody on the current roster is ready for this role. So if you were all excited about running back the same top six as last year that helped land us the 4th worst record in the league...have at it.

And haven't any of us learned yet...the last year or two of a contract means nothing. Players can almost always be moved or waived if needed. This is not a problem contract. The cap keeps rising so the % of cap a player signs for today will be much lower in 3-5 years. It just won't matter.

Welcome to the team Sean, go kick some ass!

Well said.

Have to laugh at the armchair GM's on here that think they'd sign him to less term for less money. He'd tell you where to go and rightfully so.

 

[Indy18]

People here seem to think we were competing against ourselves in negotiations. We know the Jets were still trying to sign him and I am confident there were other suitors as well. Thus...we had to make him the best offer.

And I couldn't give two squats what the main boards think. None of them are GMs above the EA Sports level. We know what our team needs better than all those wanna-be GMs. We needed help at center in the top six, DW got top six center help. The contract doesn't take us into his social security years like most UFA contracts. Honestly the more I think about this contract the more I like it.

I am reviewing most of the contracts here as I am now off work and I really don't see a contract that isn't an "overpay" and I wouldn't consider this even in the top 5 overpays of the day. I mean Boston gave a 5x6 to a 29 year old 3rd line Dman and nobody is saying a word.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807868189638119798

Official now

 

[cbjthrowaway]

The contract is definitely too long, but this smells like a move designed to solve multiple problems which is why I think Don was willing to pay so much for this puzzle piece. 1st, This moves Jenner to wing and improves his game a ton vs his contribution at center.

alternatively, it helps them avoid the "developing multiple young top nine centers at the same time" thing if they keep jenner at center.

being able to roll monahan - fantilli - jenner down the middle as the centers on the top three lines solves a lot of problems for this team. could then have sillinger as the #4, on the wing, or as a trade chip.

then over the next couple years, fantilli grabs the 1C role, lindstrom comes up, and jenner either moves to wing, centers the fourth line, or gets traded for a haul.

Second, this should take pressure of Fantilli and Sillinger as well as push Lindstrom back to Junior unless he literally breaks down the door on the team.

lindstrom has only played about half a CHL season at center so far. i assume he's going back there to get a full year at that position under his belt.

 

[majormajor]

He scored 59 pts last year.

We weren't going to sign him for less than $5.5m. I was hoping for a 3 year deal. A 5 year deal maybe you'd call a strategic overpay. But with the amount of capspace floating around and the contracts some clubs were signing today, this doesn't really feel like much of an overpay at all to me. It feels more par for the course. And a good fit for us.

 

[Viqsi]

Every single time I see another post about "we can move Jenner back to the wing" as a rationale for this I feel that much more nauseous.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807874143137775911

 

[Indy18]

He scored 59 pts last year.

We weren't going to sign him for less than $5.5m. I was hoping for a 3 year deal. A 5 year deal maybe you'd call a strategic overpay. But with the amount of capspace floating around and the contracts some clubs were signing today, this doesn't really feel like much of an overpay at all to me. It feels more par for the course. And a good fit for us.

Checks ALOT of the boxes off for sure...we all wanted SOMEONE to step up and win face-offs in the defensive zone not named Jenner. I mean now we can have an OT where we don't rush a man off the ice the second we gain possession.

Still alot of things to do and the Laine swap will proabably fix one.

-The biggest by far...vet LHD to play 3rd role who can fit a 2nd if needed.
-Another stout bottom 6 guy who can forecheck/do the dirty work.

 

[majormajor]

Monahan is a great bumper on the PP. I'm looking forward to that.

Look very carefully at the history chart in the upper-right. Note how this year in particular stood out. Note how otherwise he's been trash.

There's nuance to his health situation that I hope we have a good read into.

We don't know enough publicly. I've heard that Monahan had been dealing with an accumulation of hip/groin injuries since he was about 24, that he never took time off to rehab. He didn't take that time until recently, and that successful rehab explains his return to form this year. That's the positive version, perhaps it's not so rosy in reality. But I will say that the details there matter significantly and we don't know them.

This moves Jenner to wing and improves his game a ton vs his contribution at center.

Jenner's been better at center than he ever was at wing. Who came up with this myth?

I'm fine with him playing at wing too, or Monahan, or both. Boone is the better player at the defensive aspect of center. Both are great at faceoffs.

being able to roll monahan - fantilli - jenner down the middle as the centers on the top three lines solves a lot of problems for this team. could then have sillinger as the #4, on the wing, or as a trade chip.

All this center talk and nobody mentions Voronkov?

He's our most natural looking center, in my opinion. Definitely a better fit there in the short term over Fantilli, who I probably wouldn't put at center for a couple years.

 

[Viqsi]

There's nuance to his health situation that I hope we have a good read into.

We don't know enough publicly. I've heard that Monahan had been dealing with an accumulation of hip/groin injuries since he was about 24, that he never took time off to rehab. He didn't take that time until recently, and that successful rehab explains his return to form this year. That's the positive version, perhaps it's not so rosy in reality. But I will say that the details there matter significantly and we don't know them.

I just look at that trajectory and think a drop back into the abyss seems more probable. That, and even when he's on, he's at best neutral 5v5. $5.5m/yr for 5 years is not the kind of money that should be going to a special teams (PP and PK both) specialist.

 

[Ice9]

To make you feel better. The NY Mets today paid Bobby Bonilla tad less than 2 mil. He's 61, dont think he's played since 2001 and he's gonna get this until like 2035.

 

[stevo61]

I guess we could move Jenner back to the wing too

 

[Viqsi]

To make you feel better. The NY Mets today paid Bobby Bonilla tad less than 2 mil. He's 61, dont think he's played since 2001 and he's gonna get this until like 2035.

I do not now nor have I ever nor will I ever give or have given the slightest microcosm of a f*** about baseball.

 

[Viqsi]

I guess we could move Jenner back to the wing too

 

[Ice9]

Lindstrom..."Nobody here is a real doctor"!
Monahan...everyone's a Johns Hopkins grad...

Small market, crappy ran organizations pay through the nose...

 

[CBJWerenski8]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807875859233317219

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807877473608110210

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807878161444884808

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807880232592199832

 

[5th Line Fanatic]

If we only offer 2-3 years we probably don't get the player.

We might get him for 2-3 years if we offer $7-8M per year, which would not have bothered me. We're not going to be in a cap crunch in that time. He's going to be getting top line minutes for the next couple of years, I have no problem paying him for that. For me, this contract sucks because he's getting paid too long, not too much.

Hopefully the contract is structured in such a way that it makes a buyout after year 3 something easy to do. I don't expect Monahan to be the type of player that gives you anything on the 3rd or 4th line once he's no longer a top 6 player. This is why I have always been comfortable with Lindholm. I could absolutely see Lindholm being a valuable 3rd line contributor late into his 30s.

 

[Ice9]

I do not now nor have I ever nor will I ever give or have given the slightest microcosm of a f*** about baseball.

Wasn't particularly aimed at you. But....

 

[Viqsi]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807875859233317219

True, but he's not going to be much of an upgrade on Jenner in that regard. Different but not better.

OTOH, this does mean less pressure on Jenner. Small victories. That said I think I'd have been happier with Wennberg coming back at the contract San Jose gave him.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Monahan is definitely of the ilk of younger Werenski, Jones, and others when it comes to being monotone.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807879856098890026

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807879570768425462

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807881343625580935

 

[majormajor]

My pick for new top line is

Gaudreau - Monahan - Fantilli

Every single time I see another post about "we can move Jenner back to the wing" as a rationale for this I feel that much more nauseous.

Don't judge a move by the strength of the arguments fans make for it.

If I go for a run today because I think it will give me superpowers, well at least I went for a run and incrementally improved my health.

Checks ALOT of the boxes off for sure...we all wanted SOMEONE to step up and win face-offs in the defensive zone not named Jenner.

I wouldn't ask Monahan to play a lot of defensive roles. Jenner and Voronkov on defensive draws would be my preference.

I mean now we can have an OT where we don't rush a man off the ice the second we gain possession.

I looked it up and Monahan and Gaudreau were money in OT up until about 2020 when Monahan's body started falling apart on him. Since then Monahan has been tried at OT sporadically and has not been on the ice for a single OT goal for across 23 minutes. Zero.

He's not a fast or nimble player. I would not count on OT as a strength, but I'm also not ruling out that he and Gaudreau can rekindle something there now that they've been reunited and Monahan is, at least for the moment, healthy.

That, and even when he's on, he's at best neutral 5v5. $5.5m/yr for 5 years is not the kind of money that should be going to a special teams (PP and PK both) specialist.

I would say he's neutral 5v5 in a neutral situation, like if you put him in your middle six, in a healthy season he'd be neutral. That's what he was for Montreal. If you put him with Johnny though, he has the tools to run up the score.

I wouldn't describe Monahan as a special teams specialist either. He's been putting up around 1.9 P/60 at 5v5 the last couple seasons, that's a solid top six number, and he was over 2.0 with Johnny in their primes. I'd say he's an offense specialist.

 

[Viqsi]

Don't judge a move by the strength of the arguments fans make for it.

If I go for a run today because I think it will give me superpowers, well at least I went for a run and incrementally improved my health.

I am legit terrified of the possibility that Waddell is thinking something similar and/or that persistent myths about the centers already here are reaching the "true because they're repeated so g-ddamn often" state.

I would say he's neutral 5v5 in a neutral situation, like if you put him in your middle six, in a healthy season he'd be neutral. That's what he was for Montreal. If you put him with Johnny though, he has the tools to run up the score.

I wouldn't describe Monahan as a special teams specialist either. He's been putting up around 1.9 P/60 at 5v5 the last couple seasons, that's a solid top six number, and he was over 2.0 with Johnny in their primes. I'd say he's an offense specialist.

Neutral in the sense that his effect on offense is neatly cancelled by his effect on defense.