Calgary Flames’ Sean Monahan Named to Top 20 Best Centers List

NHL.com has released their top 20 NHL centers list. And Calgary Flames top-line center, Sean Monahan, just made the cut for it.

Let’s continue on with Calgary Flames players making lists! Just last week, NHL.com released the top 20 NHL wingers and Johnny Gaudreau was ranked at 10th overall! They released the top 20 centers list last night and Sean Monahan just barely made the cut at 20th overall.

Via NHL.com:

"Monahan had 27 goals for the second straight season in 2016-17 and finished second on the Flames with 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) behind Johnny Gaudreau (61). He’s finished among the Flames’ top three scorers each of the past three seasons. Monahan, who turns 23 on Oct. 12, had 17 power-play points (eight goals, nine assists), scored four game-winning goals (two in overtime) and won 51.5 percent of his faceoffs last season. He also led the Flames in playoff scoring with five points (four goals, one assist) in four games."

Speaking of playoff scoring…

There was a surprise on the list that left hockey Twitter somewhat confused. Auston Matthews was named the fourth best center. And don’t get me wrong, he definitely deserves to be on that list with that rookie season he had, but fourth overall? That seems a little premature.

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I’m sorry Leafs fans, I promise I’m on your side! Anyways, let’s get back to Monahan.

Sean Monahan had somewhat of an off-season compared to his last few. He had just 58 points in 82 games. Last season he had 63 points in 81 games and the season before he had 62 points in 81 games. It’s not that much of a downfall, but something worth noting.

Monahan’s been in the NHL for four seasons now and in each of his seasons, he’s cracked the 20 goals list. In his rookie season in 2013-14, his 22 goals was fourth among rookies in the NHL. However, the top three had 24, 24, and 23 goals respectively, and they each played 6-7 games more than Monahan. If he didn’t miss out on a few games, he could have potentially led in goals among rookies.

Furthermore, since the start of his NHL career in 2013-14 until now, he’s 19th overall in goals among all skaters with 107 and he’s eighth among centers. Since his rookie season, he’s also tied in second for overtime goals with seven (number 1 has eight). But, remember that game this past season where it was the Calgary Flames against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sean Monahan seemed to have scored in overtime but they waved it off? In case you don’t remember, I angrily wrote about it here. Oh and here. I’m clearly still angry about the matter. But he could have been tied for number one in the NHL with overtime goals.

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This past season as well, he got the full time “A” on his jersey.

Oh and how can we forget about this beauty of a goal:

Also this past season, when Monahan finally got his 100th goal in his NHL career, he made history. He became the youngest player in Flames franchise history to reach 100 goals. He also became just the sixth youngest player in NHL history to reach that mark. The names ahead of him? Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, and Patrick Kane. However, Monahan did it in fewer games than Kane. And only two of those players are centers.

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That seems like an elite bunch. When people mention Monahan, they don’t exactly put him in the same conversations as players like Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. But maybe they should start.