CALGARY – A little over five minutes remained in the first period, with the Canadiens up 1-0 on a Juraj Slafkovsky goal that Sean Monahan created, when Calgary Flames centre Nazem Kadri got the puck on the right wall in his defensive zone.
Kadri wears No. 91 for the Flames, and he is the player Calgary signed with the salary cap space created by packaging Monahan and a future first-round draft pick and shipping him off to Montreal, where Monahan now also wears No. 91, and where Monahan is resurrecting his career after being cast aside by the Flames to sign an older player for more years and more money.
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As Kadri corralled the puck along the wall, Monahan closed on him quickly and forced a turnover, giving Monahan’s line with Josh Anderson and – most important – Juraj Slafkovsky an extended shift in the offensive zone. Monahan had already begun the game by creating a turnover that led to Slafkovsky scoring his fourth of the season into an empty net after Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom unsuccessfully left his net to challenge Monahan for the puck.
As far as metaphors go, that shift later in the first period was a bigger one than that goal on the opening shift, even if Slafkovsky said he believed he’d never even gotten a point on his first shift of the game, let alone a goal, and wore a massive smile as he said it.
No, that other shift was important not only because it began with Monahan’s taking the puck from Kadri but also because of how the Canadiens played the shift from then on, and more specifically how Slafkovsky played.
While the Canadiens were possessing the puck in the offensive zone, playing heavy along the walls and tiring the Flames out by forcing them to play defence, Noah Hanifin got the puck behind the net and was on the verge of clearing it when suddenly he couldn’t. Because Slafkovsky, much like Monahan earlier in the shift, closed on Hanifin quickly, used his big body to seal Hanifin away from the puck and maintained possession of the puck in the offensive zone for the Canadiens.
The shift was, in a nutshell, the value Sean Monahan brings to a young, developing team, because not only is he still an effective player at age 28, but he is also a positive influence.
What made that shift so significant? It is what Martin St. Louis said before the game about what he wanted to see out of Slafkovsky playing on that line.
“It could be hard for a young player, right? Because maybe now, he moves up the lineup and he might lose a little bit of the simplicity that we liked about his game when he played, so to speak, on a lower line where he plays more straight line, and heavy, and possesses pucks in the o-zone,” St. Louis said Thursday morning. “Now you move up the lineup and you think you have to make more plays and (start) forcing things.
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“I just want Slaf to play the game that’s in front of him, and I don’t know what that’s going to be. Is he going to have space? Great, now take advantage of that. If you don’t have space, then keep advancing the puck and go play your game, bring your heaviness and go possess pucks in the o-zone.”
That’s exactly what that shift was, and it is generally what Slafkovsky did a lot for the rest of the game as well. And playing with Monahan was a big part of that.
“What do I learn from him?” Slafkovsky said, pointing to Monahan as he was surrounded by reporters after the game. “A lot.”
This was obviously an emotional day for Monahan, returning to the city where he began his career, where he was drafted, where he became an important member of the community. He looked to be on the verge of tears Thursday morning while thanking the Calgary fans. He got a standing ovation at the first television timeout after a tribute video was played at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Standing O for Sean Monahan at first TV timeout pic.twitter.com/BHYse7iCCZ
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) December 2, 2022
“Calgary’s got a special place in my heart, and it always will,” Monahan said after the game. “Any time I come back here, I think I’ll have that same kind of feeling. It’s special to me.”
Monahan assisted on both Canadiens goals in a win that cost him a decent amount of money on the board, money he was more than happy to pay. And Monahan is not thinking about his future right now, simply happy to be playing in the present with (relatively) no pain, despite the walking boot he had on before and after the game.
But the Canadiens will have a decision to make on Monahan relatively soon, because his performance this season and his expiring contract continue increasing his value to contenders around the league. But he is also increasing his value to the Canadiens because of answers like this from Slafkovsky: “He’s so smart. He doesn’t make many nice moves and stuff, he just knows where to go and makes good plays. It’s just so easy to play with him.”
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Monahan knows what Slafkovsky is going through this season, because he lived it his first year in Calgary, making the jump from the OHL to the NHL right after being drafted No. 6 overall in 2013. My colleague Marc Antoine Godin recently asked Monahan what that 18-year-old season in the NHL did for his career.
“I think it was good for me to be there at 18,” Monahan replied. “I learned a lot, to be honest. We weren’t a great team my first year. We had a lot of veteran guys who taught me to do things the right way and being a pro, and those are things that stuck with me until today. The following year we went to the second round of the playoffs. You learn a lot.”
Now, Monahan is the veteran guy, and the Canadiens need to determine if that ability to teach all their young players valuable lessons is worth continuing this relationship beyond this season, or at least if it is worth more than what Monahan could fetch on the open trade market before the March 3 trade deadline.
I still believe the answer to that question is no, but that answer is made more difficult when you see the respect Monahan has in Calgary and among his teammates. Flames coach Darryl Sutter remembered when he first arrived in March 2021 and how important Monahan was to his ability to quickly change the culture of the team.
“We had to change the attitude or the environment of the team in a hurry, and Sean was a big part of that,” Sutter said. “He was really, really important in it just because of everything about him, because he’s such a good person and such a good teammate.”
That has a certain value, and colleague Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN on Thursday that the Canadiens front office is debating how much value that actually has compared with Monahan’s trade value.
INSIDER TRADING: https://t.co/yYlfOqdmKF pic.twitter.com/EWXMoFQi7G
— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) December 1, 2022
It is a difficult equation to calculate, and it is made that much more difficult after nights like Thursday, after seeing the respect Monahan’s former Flames teammates still have for him, his willingness to play through pain, to never complain, to do everything he can for the team. The one thing Monahan said he wanted to be remembered for in Calgary was that he always put the team first, and that is exactly what the Canadiens are trying to instill in Montreal.
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“It’s a hard league,” St. Louis said after the game when asked what his players can learn from Monahan’s arriving and leaving the rink Thursday with a walking boot. “You need special people to do special things to play a long time. And I think that’s what we’re seeing.”
Monahan’s value can more acutely be measured when you consider what kind of influence it can have on the Canadiens’ biggest development project. Slafkovsky again let out a beaming smile when asked how he felt when he saw his name in the Canadiens’ top six on the lineup on the board in the dressing room Thursday morning. And again, much of the way St. Louis hopes to see Slafkovsky play – heavy, puck possession, simple – is exemplified in the way Monahan has done it for years.
If you want your prized rookie to play a certain way, having someone who plays that way in-house certainly helps.
“Yeah, but Monny has 10 years, right?” St. Louis said. “Monny does it consistently, and experience will get you to consistency.”
Experience can also help others with very little experience get to consistency. That’s Monahan’s biggest value to the Canadiens beyond this season: his ability to help others while also helping the team remain competitive.
It is almost surely less valuable than the draft picks or prospects Monahan would fetch at the trade deadline. But this visit to where Monahan’s career began made that a little less obvious.
(Photo of Sean Monahan and Jacob Markstrom: Derek Leung / Getty Images)