After action on Monday night, rookie centre Sean Monahan led the Calgary Flames with six goals and was second on the team with nine points through eight games. With a hot start to his career, the sixth overall pick in this summer’s draft has emerged as the face of the Flames’ rebuild.
That puts Calgary in quite a predicament, because the best-case scenario for both franchise and player long term is likely to return him to junior.
To begin with, Monahan’s point totals are not built on a firm foundation. He has scored six goals on 19 shots for a 31.6 shooting percentage in a league where a number one-third of that is quite good. The coach, according to extraskater.com, has been quite careful to manage his ice time, getting him out in the offensive zone as much as possible and keeping him away from the defensive end of the rink.
None of these are criticisms of an exceptional 19-year-old; it is just important to be realistic about what Monahan is likely to do over the rest of the season. Unless Monahan dramatically improves his play, a point-per-game season or something close to it sim ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis