When the Blue Jackets signed Sean Monahan to a five-year contract this offseason, there was excitement among the fan base – and some consternation.
It’s not that Monahan, a 60-point player per 82 games throughout the balance of his decade-long career, wasn’t seen as a good acquisition for the Blue Jackets. But there were some that fretted about the length of the deal, and others who questioned what it might mean for the development and ice time of such young enters as Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger.
But through the first 29 games of this season, the signing has proved to be as shrewd as any acquisition in the NHL. Not only has Monahan produced, posting nine goals and 25 points along with a plus-12 rating, he’s been a glue guy both in the lineup and the locker room for the Blue Jackets.
Head coach Dean Evason has raved about Monahan’s professionalism and the example he sets in the room along with the quiet style of leadership he’s provided. Teammates have raved about his low-key sense of humor and what it's like to share the ice with him, and his rock-solid presence in the lineup and the dressing room is one reason the Blue Jackets are off to a much better start than in years past.
“He has been absolutely fantastic,” Evason said. “Clearly, he’s played extremely well on the ice. You guys have seen his presence in the room, but away from the rink as well, just his professionalism, his calm leadership has really helped us.”
From a hockey standpoint, the best sign of his abilities might come when you look at the analytics; as Evason said, “literally anybody that we put with Monahan has success.”
Monahan started the season as the center between Yegor Chinakhov and Kirill Marchenko, and according to MoneyPuck.com, the trio had an expected goals percentage of 64.9 when on the ice at 5-on-5 and outscored teams 9-3. After some shuffling, Monahan settled in with Marchenko on his right and Dmitri Voronkov on his left, and that line had an xG% of 56.3 percent and outscored teams 10-2.
Jokingly called “Monahanov” by Marchenko because of how well he played with the Russians, Monahan was given a whole new line combination last Friday in Vancouver, and through four games with James van Riemsdyk and Kent Johnson, the trio has an xG% of 57.1 percent and outscored teams 4-2.
So, the question is – what makes the 11-year NHL veteran so easy to play with?
“I think his entire game,” Evason said. “You can say, this guy's a good passer or this guy is a good skater and this guy's a good shooter and this guy is a good defender, and he's all of those, right? He's done everything in all areas of the game in all zones and all different situations. He's been a fantastic presence on our hockey club.”
For those who have lined up beside him, Monahan’s intelligence and style have proved to be easy to adapt to.
“He is a smart player, he has good experience in the NHL, and he just helps us grow,” Marchenko said. “He sees every time on the ice. He’s good in battles. We enjoy playing with him.”
No one might have been happier to get the call up to the top line than Johnson, who thought the two would be a fit all along.
“He was one of the only guys I didn’t really play with at all during camp, and I was really happy with the guys I was playing with, but I was always like, ‘Yeah, if I was playing with Monahan, I’d love it,’” Johnson said. “I can just tell the way he plays and stuff, he’s very easy to play with and nice for a guy like me. So I’m definitely happy to play with him.”
For his part, Monahan said it was a tough question to answer why he’s meshed so well with so many so quickly, but it might start with communication.
“I was playing with Chinny and Marchy to start, and we talked a lot to see what would work,” Monahan said. “It was the same when I was with Vronny and Marchy. Me and Marchy had some chemistry going, and obviously things change when you start not winning games, and then playing with KJ and Riemer, we’re doing the same things.
“We chat it out. You see each others’ skill sets and you try to make it work. I think it’s my job as a centerman to make it work, starting with the puck by winning faceoffs and communicating a game plan.”
Perhaps most important to Monahan is how the Blue Jackets are starting to come together. This year’s 12-13-4 record is a vast improvement on previous seasons, and the team is starting to show some resiliency and that it can win games in different ways.
Helping build a winner is one reason the veteran center came to Columbus.
“I feel every night we have a chance to win,” Monahan said. “That’s the biggest thing. The group in here wants to win, and when the puck drops we’re ready to go. We’ve had a few games that I think we’ve let slip away and a few games that the other team has just beat us, but I think where we’re at in the standings doesn’t always reflect where the group is at.
“But I think we can be a team here that really pushes because we’re learning different ways to win and learning to the right things to win games.”
Johnson’s Flying Start
I don’t want to seem like a broken record here talking about Kent Johnson, which I’ve done a few times this year, including this weekend’s article on how he’s one of the best in the NHL at carrying the puck up the ice.
But how can you not want to keep extolling the virtues of the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 draft, a 21-year-old forward who is seemingly making a leap to stardom in front of our eyes?
There’s plenty of impressive stats for Johnson this year, and we’ll get to them in a minute. But what stands out even more to me are the number of get out of your seat moments and Did you see that? plays he’s produced this season.
Simply put, Johnson is worth the price of admission because you never know what he might produce. It could be as spectacular as a Michigan goal. It could be a pass you didn't see coming. It could be a fake that leaves a defenseman grasping at air. Everything is on the table with KJ on the ice.
And to think, we might only be scratching the surface.
“I hope so,” he said when asked that. “I definitely think I’m going to keep getting better. I think these games right now are unreal for my development and everything. I just feel so involved and making so many plays and reads, so I definitely feel like there has to be another level for me for sure.”
That would be impressive considering where he’s at so far. Johnson’s goal Tuesday vs. Philadelphia made him just the third CBJ player to score nine times in the first 14 games of a season, he’s fourth in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes at 5-on5, and he’s notched five multipoint games in 15 contests so far.
Add it all up his 9-8-17 line means it took him just those 15 games to pass his production – 16 points – from a season ago. Last year was a Murphy’s Law type season where everything that could go wrong did, from a game one scratch to an early-season stint in the AHL to a season-ending shoulder injury in February.
But in some ways, that helped Johnson. The adversity gave him a focus for the offseason, the shoulder surgery was a reset, and he hit the gym and the practice ice with a determination to get back to the form that made him one of the top picks in the draft.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” he said. “It was good for me to go through that last year, even though I hated it during the year. Yeah, definitely I think it helped me in the summer think about things differently and think about what I’m doing and making sure I’m doing smart things.
“It’s hard to change stuff up too much when you’re doing good. It was the first year I felt like I could look into changing stuff up more, so it was good.”
Monsters on Fire
It seems like Jet Greaves might stay a while in Columbus after his excellent season debut Thursday night, a 35-save performance in which he helped the Blue Jackets get a point against one of the best teams in the NHL.
What might be Columbus’ gain would be a loss to the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the club that moved into first place alone with last night’s 3-2 win over Lehigh Valley that improved the team to 16-6-0-2 on the season.
Don’t weep for Cleveland, though, as the Monsters have built something pretty special up I-71. Part of it has been done through excellent drafting, as such players as Luca Del Bel Belluz, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Denton Mateychuk, Gavin Brindley, Stanislav Svozil, James Malatesta and Corson Ceulemans are all CBJ draft picks who form the core of the squad.
Add in high-scoring AHL veteran Rocco Grimaldi and the steady hand of recent CBJ signee Owen Sillinger, and it’s a talented group. It’s also a group that’s played a lot of hockey together over the past few seasons, as such names as Fix-Wolansky, Greaves, Sillinger and Roman Ahcan have been in Cleveland for four-plus seasons and have created a locker room that head coach Trent Vogelhuber can rely on.
The Monsters are also a fun team to watch, pulling out multiple late-game victories this season and boasting four of the top 13 scorers in the league in Del Bel Belluz (tied for first, 15-13-28), Fix-Wolansky (tied for third, 13-14-27), Matecyhuk (tied for ninth, 7-16-23) and Grimaldi (tied for ninth, 6-17-23). Del Bel Belluz and Mateychuk in particular could be in Columbus sooner rather than later given how their play has impressed so far this season.
The team also has plenty of inspiration after a heartbreaking loss in overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final last season. This year’s squad appears to have the talent and experience to challenge again for the Calder Cup.
Be sure to stay up to date with the Monsters and all the drafted CBJ prospects playing around the world by checking out BlueJackets.com/Prospects, presented by Ruoff Mortgage.
Svo’s Notes
- I wrote a story this summer looking back at Don Waddell’s moves when he was building the Carolina Hurricanes into one of the NHL’s top teams, and the conclusion I came to is that the first-year CBJ general manger is not afraid to make a move. So far this year, he’s already shown it, trading David Jiricek for a package that included defenseman Daemon Hunt and draft picks, as well as being involved in the Jacob Trouba discussions, per just about every NHL insider. As a fan, it’s kind of fun, isn’t it? Waddell has said it’s his responsibility to listen to offers if they’ll make his team better, and he’s shown it so far.
- A random thought: When the Blue Jackets lost four in a row in a West Coast swing to California and Seattle, they were without Johnson. When they lost three in a row in Western Canada, they were without Yegor Chinakhov. Every NHL team goes through injuries, so you can’t put it all on that, but it is fair to wonder just how much those forward losses hurt when the Jackets’ biggest issue on those trips was scoring goals.
- van Riemsdyk was robbed of a fighting major when he dropped the gloves vs. Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk on Sunday, and that would have given the Blue Jackets five players with fights on their scorecard this season. Mathieu Olivier has a league-high six, while Zach Werenski, Dmitri Voronkov and Jake Christiansen also have dropped the gloves. When he first hit the ice this year during camp, Evason said he noticed his team had some bite to it, and he hasn’t been proved wrong.
- So far, it looks like the Blue Jackets have two prospects with a chance to play in the annual IIHF World Junior Championships, the annual U-20 tournament that has become an integral part of the hockey calendar. Goalie Melvin Strahl (fifth-round pick, 2023) is on the roster for Team Sweden thanks to a standout start in Youngstown (USHL), while Ottawa (OHL) forward Luca Pinelli is on the selection camp roster for Canada thanks to a start that includes three hat tricks and 21 goals in 26 games, tied for fourth in the league. Good luck to each of those future Jackets!
