Avalanche Linked To Sean Monahan…Again

I’ve been getting a lot of deja vu with the Colorado Avalanche over the last 24 hours. First, Gabriel Landeskog gets back on the ice, looking similar to how he did almost a year ago at Family Sports.

Then, I listed to the Ray and Dregs podcast and hear them talking about how Sean Monahan would be a nice fallback option for the Avalanche if they don’t go out and get a guy like Elias Lindholm.

Well, later that evening on Insider Trading, TSN Insider Darren Dreger once again linked the Avalanche to the 29 year old Montréal Canadiens center.

“There are teams that are looking for centermen,” Dreger said on TSN. “Depth in that position, or a top 2, top 3 centermen. No different this year. I’m looking at Colorado. I’m looking at Boston. Perhaps the Edmonton Oilers. Maybe the Washington Capitals if they stay in the mix. 29 year old Sean Monahan of the Montréal Canadiens is healthy, and he is having a decent year.”

He continued to discuss what happened this summer with Monahan and Montreal.

“You have to go back to the offseason when the Canadiens signed the veteran forward,” explained Dreger. “They had an agreement at that point to trade him to a contending team or a team of his choice when the time is right. Nothing has changed there. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean Monahan is among the first forwards to get dealt before the deadline.”

Why is this deja vu? Because just under a year ago, Pierre Lebrun called the Avalanche a “team to monitor” when it came to Monahan.

The difference this year is that Monahan, as of right now, is actually healthy. At this time last season, Monahan was injured, and the question was whether or not he would get back and play before the deadline.

He never did.

Monahan is having a decent year on a bad Montreal team. He’s got 24 points in 41 games, which would puts him on pace for 48 points over the course of a full NHL season. It’s worth noting that 11 of Monahan’s 24 points have come on the powerplay, as he plays on their top unit. Would that happen in Colorado? Not likely.

At even strength, his underlying numbers don’t jump off the page. It’s a bad team, so it’s hard to truly gauge how much is him and how much is the team, but they aren’t great. He’s producing 1.28 points-per-60 at even strength. For comparisons sake, Ryan Johansen is at 1.2, so not a huge difference. Like Johansen, a concern for Monahan would be speed, or lack thereof. Can he play with the pace necessary to fit in on the Avalanche? That would be the big question.

The appeal of Monahan to a lot of teams is his low cap hit. He’s making just under $2 million until the end of this season, so a lot of teams can fit him in pretty easily. He’d also cost less to acquire than a guy like Lindholm. That’s why Monahan is looked at as sort of a “Plan B” for a lot of teams, according to Dreger.

Just something to monitor. With the trade deadline fast approaching, we’ll look at the needs on the Avalanche, and put together a trade board just like last season of potential fits before March 8.