Many in the hockey world were shocked when the Winnipeg Jets were willing to trade a first-round pick to acquire forward Sean Monahan from the Montreal Canadiens.
But in the near four weeks since the trade, Monahan has looked every bit worthy of the trade, scoring six goals in nine games with the Jets and turning their power play into one of the best in the league through February.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss Monahan’s impact on the team since being acquired and if it’s enough for Winnipeg to be considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One guy who has found his footing in Winnipeg is Sean Monahan. In his first four games with the club, he was held off the scoresheet, but in the five games since then he’s scored six goals goals, including a hat trick last week against the Calgary Flames. He scored again on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.
Monahan is really starting to find his groove.
Frank Seravalli: He’s totally changed their power play, and for a team that struggles to score, that’s very important. The numbers don’t lie: in the 47 games they played before Monahan arrived, they were 24th in the league at 15.7 percent. Since then in the nine games he’s played, 31 percent on the power play, fourth in the league.
The interesting part to me is seeing Monahan contribute at even strength. Six goals in nine games, he’s been a good fit. I know you need to win in the playoffs is defense, but you also need to score, and that’s the one reason why I’ve held out the Jets from my small list of authentic Stanley Cup contenders, so if they can get that power play in the right direction and score on even strength when they have a healthy roster.
You can watch the rest of the segment and the full episode here…
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