What Does Sean Monahan Bring To The Columbus Blue Jackets? | Jack Johnson Returns

what exactly does Shawn Monahan bring to the Blue Jackets well we have someone who's watched him play for a couple of seasons and we're going to talk about that on today's locked on Blue Jackets your locked on Blue Jacket your daily podcast on the Columbus Blue Jackets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello and welcome to lock on Blue Jacket Part of the locked on podcast Network Team every day I am as always your host Jay Foster here to give you the Good the Bad and the Ugly about your favorite team and mine the Columbus Blue Jackets before we get started I want to thank everyone for making this your first listen of the day every single day lot of blue jacket is free and available on all podcast platforms over on YouTube and on Sirius XM I also have to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply um we've got a a special guest on on today's show uh I wanted to talk to someone who has watched Shan manahan play in detail for the last couple of Seasons so I've got one half of lock on Canadians Laura Saba hopped on the show to talk a little bit about what she loves about sha manahan what Blue Jackets fans can expect from him and uh what kind of impact he is going to have on the team uh and then after that um I want to talk a little bit about um the other kind of quote unquote big free agent signing for Columbus which is uh Jack Johnson is coming home uh so we'll uh I'll get into my conversation with Laura and then after that I'll be back just me and uh we'll talk a little bit about Jack Johnson but first we're g to talk all about Shawn Monahan I figured the best person to talk to about Shawn Monahan is in fact someone that watched him play for a good part of the last two seasons uh so one of my very favorite people in the world I've got Laura Saba one half of locked on Canadians and uh she's going to tell us about what Sean was like in Montreal what Blue Jackets fans should expect should we be excited um and there's like a couple of things that I specifically want to want to touch on about about Monahan's game but Laura welcome on back we always love to have a locked on Blue Jackets locked on Canadians uh squadcast um it has been a while it's been a minute I feel like yeah I don't like November I want to say it's been a minute I'm excited I'm always happy to come back yeah it's always always a blast um Sean manahan yes in Columbus yes um he really kind of came into his came back to himself this season yes the with the Canadians absolutely how what what was it like going from kind of the Season before last where he only played what I think 25 26 games to this season where he actually ended up playing 83 games between the Canadians and the Jets um in the regular season like what was how notable was the jump between last season's Monahan and this season monah had I think for me the biggest thing was when the human tral Canadians first traded for him uh every single Calgary fan was like good luck if he can stay healthy like he's great but if he can stay healthy that was a big if right and so we got to experience that but I think the first season was more of a presence thing like it wasn't just about having depth it was more about having his presence as well because he was able to create chances and he was able to kind of put the plate together and kind of make it a bit more cohesive in moments when it was unraveling like for me like not necessarily like a cleanup person but sort of he felt like the adult in the room a lot of times um in the lineup and so like even then Canadians fans had kind of fallen in love with his game but this past season he was a massive presence and I know we don't like intangibles but I do believe in some of them and he really did like I think that was the like if you talk to the Canadians themselves that's what they'll point to more than anything else is the intangibles you kind of have to remember that he's only 29 right when the Blue Jackets signed him for that contract a lot of people were criticizing the term and the money I would say that really is only related to his injuries because I feel like he's still a forward that is in that age where like he's still in his prime he's not necessarily declined yet like yes it is kind of he's getting in his older years etc etc but he became such a crucial part of this team in terms of driving plane which was really surprising and the fans loved him the players loved him when he got traded it was a massive loss and we were all writing fan fiction about him coming back next year but thanks Blue Jacket hey we've reunited him with his best friend like content is gonna be really good um and that was that's something that is kind of like you talk about like the presence the intangibles and like that was a big thing for me with bringing Monahan in is again he's only 29 he's not you know some grizzled veteran except he has kind of the veteran veteran and the Canadian obviously have just recently lost you know a lot of big pieces of their kind of Veteran presence Shay Weber yeah leaving um K price leaving and you know the adults were sha Monahan and David svad on the team Blue Jackets also a very young team so you know Shan manahan I think coming into it is I think going to be now the fourth or fifth oldest player on the team wow um and again at the age of 29 because the Blue Jackets is a team full of babies but that's a really enticing thing for me is okay we're bringing in someone who like you said he's the adult on the line yeah you know he is a guy that can drive play he's a guy that could be responsible and uh I the term and the money it is what it is it's free agency you're always going to overpay um is it a year too long and a million too much maybe but but good for him the end of the world good for him for getting paid right from my persp we are pro employee and employer on this podast um something else I wanted to talk to you about kind of in in terms of manand game specifically is something that a couple of people mentioned in the YouTube comments uh the power play yes apparently the Canadians power play kind of fell off a cliff a little bit when when Monahan left yes so is that is that recently bias or is that something that you can like point to as a tangible thing as he left and the power play got worse okay so let me contextualize that a bit the Montreal Canadians power play has been abysmal for years um what had happened was the emergence of a potential Improvement in the power play was occurring and part of that was driven by the fact that they started using slap kovsky on there more often right they started relying on him more but I think what happened when Monahan left was like I said he was kind of the adult in the room like there were very many situations in which Monahan would prevent disaster in the power play and when I say abysmal I'm talking like short-handed chances I'm talking short-handed goals I'm talking like momentum Killers I'm talking you know like two whole minutes where nobody in the ice knows what they're doing this is all sounding so so familiar to me and every blue Jack so he was tightening it up a little bit but I would say like he it's less that he was the driver of it of it the power play specifically and more the he was able to tighten everything up um and then in his absence everything unraveled back and the lack of when I say discipline I don't mean like discipline in terms of like the rules but more discipline in terms of playing a clean game and sort of executing that kind of disappeared and he was really good at executing and that's one of the things where um I find that they missed and it's like the the power play was always going to come back down to Earth so I would say it's entirely due to Monahan leaving but it is partly due to Monahan leaving like it definitely didn't help right and honestly like I was joking the other day about like if he can fix the blue jacket's power play like he's worth every penny of that contract again the Blue Jackets power play hasn't been good since Sam G was in Columbus oh wow which that tells you how long it's been you know I don't think the HS Canadian power has been good since was in Columbus right um again it's two very similar situations and watching him kind of thrive in that second year in Montreal kind of has me really excited about about what can Shawn manahan bring to the Blue Jackets I have questions about like where he's going to play in the lineup is he going to take ice time away from a guy like fantilli who you really want to be on the ice in all situations learning whatever but the just to go back to the power play for a minute it's interesting that you said um he doesn't drive it but he tightens it up and it's it feels a little bit like would you say it's kind of like he's supervising the power play of making that every not not not being the quarterback but being I don't know football enough to continue this met I have no idea what do we say like Center back is that a thing right someone who who is just kind of there to make sure everyone is in the right place yes as opposed to the person who is he he's he's got the Google Maps he's not driving the car exactly and that was the thing too like not just on the power play like I felt that sea Monahan when he was on the ice I would have issues with where everyone was but he seemed to instinctually know where to be even when other people were making errors and kind of like he would save a lot of plays that way and so when we talk about clean up and tightening up and all of that and specifically on the power play that's exactly what I would say I would say the Canadians didn't rely on him to quarterback it or Mastermind it really but they relied on him to keep it clean to keep it tight to keep it going um and you know when you say like I'm starting to get excited I think you absolutely should be excited I think all Columbus fans should be excited about the Sha Monahan experience I only caution it's the injuries that I worry about and that's really the thing if he can stay healthy like the Shawn Monahan experiment is going to go so well he's not going to take away ice time from fentii but rather he's going to compliment right he's the kind of guy where he's happy to play on a third line role he's happy to play you know he's happy to play outside of his position as long as his assignment is clear and he's able to really bring out the best in himself is is the way that I would put it like he's happy to do that he does not complain and he really just wherever you put him he can he can make it happen and like I love sea Manan like we were so every the whole season we were like when they trade this guy we're GNA be devastated when they trade this guy we knew he was going to be traded right like he's a key piece and so we were like we're gonna be devastated and they trade him to Winnipeg where he had to play alongside the coward Mark shley not the coward Mark shley and not like go on a long Stanley Cup run like that was the hardest thing to to swallow but obviously there was not really a place for him in in the Florida Panthers lineup but still um like I I truly think like Columbus fans like they should be cautiously extremely excited if that makes yeah and like this this offseason is kind of and I've been trying I've been repeating it over and over kind of to try and convince myself of it you know we are tempering expectations yes this offseason last season we got really really excited and move off a cliff immediately so this season we have this offseason we got temporary expectations and like you say the injuries are a worry um I would I would feel cautiously optimistic based on the season he had last year where he was healthy for basically all of it like I said played 83 regular season games which is still very funny to think about um just because of the way that the schedules were when he got traded to Winnipeg and who he is anything sorry and who he is like sea Manan of all it's like Pascal lar BL 83 games right but you know he he had he had a great season in in Montreal uh he was equally good in in Winnipeg as well on a better team and was you know maybe getting less juicy minutes so to speak you know he was still producing he was still putting up points um and was still you know being a a positive presence on the ice more from uh Laura about Sean Monahan in just a second but first I've got to tell you about eBay Motors passion drive and patience is the formula for winning championships it's also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance they've got superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you are into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered they've 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together whether they were unprepared whether it was like the second night of a back toback or whether that was one of the nights where we you know we had so many questions about the coaching decisions etc etc so like he's the kind of person where I feel like um you know how there are some players where like if they have a bad night the whole team has a bad night and then if they have a good night the whole team like for me like that's an Andre marov he's not that but it's rather the opposite it's often when the team has a bad night there's a point to which like Shawn Wan hand's the only bright spot only bright spot only bright spot and then when everything around him unravels like then it's like he drops off and then there's only Nick Suzuki right so that's really the thing and I would say it really how much Faith do you have in coaching well we don't have a coach right now so that's that's kind of the big question obviously is what's the new coach gonna do with Shawn Monahan I'm pretty sure it's gonna be Todd mlen which I feel fine about I don't hate that um he's probably best of of the options it's not inspiring but it's not like Great Bridge coach yeah you know he's not going to leave this team to a Stanley Cup but he might drag them out of the basement exact and that's kind of what we want right now so I guess it all depends on on how Todd mlen feels about Shawn Monahan specifically but everything you've told me makes me think okay he comes in he works hard he's great in the room um obviously that Monahan gdo connection we're hoping is still there because Johnny G hasn't had a real Center since he came to Columbus really and he's also really intelligent like that's the thing his hockey IQ is fantastic like what he lacks in like pure skill he has in smart and I think that's underrated and I also think like you know we're talking about like how much Faith do you have in coaching etc etc like if whatever coach it is let's say Todd mclen if it's somebody who's like a master tactician like I don't think you're adding that much value to coaching Shawn manahan but if you have a big picture strategy that's where I feel like Shawn Monahan fits in because you're kind of giving him that kind of autonomy and freedom to make a lot of his own decisions because he often makes that right one yeah for sure I honestly again I just to kind of wrap it up here I didn't like this contract as when it was signed and I was like man I would have given him a year maybe two at one or two million and the more I kind of think about it the more I talk to people like talking to Habs fans um Talking To Flames fans um doing a little bit more research by myself the more I'm like man this might be like it's a good think it's a little too I think I still think it's a little bit too long and a little bit too much but again that's just how free agency works I don't think it's the Columbus tax I think it's just how free agency works you know guys get it's good for them but like think of it this way like a healthy man if he's able to stay healthy for the duration of that contract that is actually a good value contract for Shawn mon exactly my guess is he is not completely healthy for the major for like the entirety of his time in Columbus but again I'm going to knock on wood here because I only I can only use my psychic powers for evil when it comes to hockey but um if they can get you know he had what 59 points this season I think if they could get 50 to 60 points out of Monahan for the next three seasons like I would I would be more than okay yes yeah absolutely and like and the other thing too is like we're talking about points right now but like there's a lot of play without the puck and some players are just terrible at it and some players are great at it and he's great at it right yeah like to me could use more off Puck players I think yeah absolutely and I think like you know if anything if he rovs off on the younger players that's going to be a positive if he brings out something in Johnny g r that's going to be a positive if he can mentor fanelli that's going to be a positive if he can if he can play like 60% of the games in each of these years you're you're you know you're golden 100 per. um the only thing that does worry me just to kind of go back to the uh the injury thing is Boom Jenna has had pretty serious back injuries I believe he's got a degenerative back condition and this team continues to play him into the ground he gets a season ending injury we repeat the process the season after you know and it drives me insane and that's the only thing that I worry about with Monahan I'm hoping with new coaching and new and a new office yeah and a new FR office better like I've liked a lot of what Don wadell has done I've liked a lot of what he said um so if they can avoid playing Shawn Monahan into the ground the way that they play Bo Jenner into the ground like that makes me feel a lot more confident yes um I want to finish off with one one last thing to just kind of touch back on that mentorship could you see obviously Nick Suzuki as one of the one of the best young centers in the game right now but could you see like Sean like anything from Shawn Monahan impacting Suzuki like was there kind of a tangible thing there where you where you would watch Nick Suzuki be like man I think he got that from Monahan better the more that the longer that Monahan was on the team with him that's actually quite interesting because I didn't specifically notice it in his play but there were Illusions to it in quotes from whether it was the coaching staff or Nick Suzuki or Shan himself um where I felt like and and I couldn't really tell if it was like more like oh his work ethic is rubbing off on me etc etc but I do think that Nick Suzuki is one of those players that thrives on intelligent hockey plays and sha Monahan is also that person so I would say they might have complimented each other I don't know necessarily specifically if you know Nick Suzuki's game improved at all but they definitely the whole team often talked about what he brought in the room um he's definitely a well-liked player by the organization by the fans nobody has anything bad to say about him you know it's kind of it's it's the opposite of bringing somebody like an avander Kane into your room right which that's a cheap shot that that's based on a conversation we had earlier thought somebody saying he would be a good fit for the Habs and I was like no bring back Shawn Manan you can't have him he's always now um if people want to keep up with the Habs um or you know if they want to keep in touch with with Josh Anderson content we made it through an entire Jay and Laura squadcast without bringing up Josh Anderson where can people find you and uh your Show online so I co-host lockon Canadians you can find that wherever you get your podcast wherever you get this this this show actually on uh Twitter we're on lockon Canadians and we're going through an exciting time where my old co-host Scott matla is leaving at the end of this month and I'm getting a new co-host Ian B so please check us out at lockdown Canadians I'm just really happy that I don't have to keep pretending that Scott and I are two different people can finally end the end there's only one of you now and you won I am victorious yes I I won that war um thanks again for coming to help on Laura always a pleasure and we're gonna have to do this again sooner than literally November because yes always always have a blast having you on the show I know I'm so glad welcome back to lock on Blue Jacket uh we are talking today well we just talked about about Sean Monahan now we're going to talk about the other free agent signing that uh the Blue Jackets decided to make earlier this week and that is they brought Jack Johnson back home uh defenseman played in Columbus for a very long time uh left went to Pittsburgh went to uh the Avalanche actually Bon a cup there and now he is back um he has played a ton of hockey uh signed a one-year oneway 775k uh contract it's league minimum it's like I said literally one year um yes he's 37 um yes he's he's not he's never been you know the the brightest of stars in uh in the the Columbus sky or you know at all but still uh a lot of people got really mad about this signing and I get it I get being frustrated it's not the defenseman I would have picked to be like a depth guy you know I like Nate Schmid a lot obviously he got lured to Florida with the promise of of playing for Paul Maurice again um but here's the thing about Jack Johnson is that this is a signing I don't think it's super matters um and and that sounds harsh but I'll kind of explain my thinking here is first of all onee league minimum that is an extremely variable contract if they decide hey we it's not working they can get rid of him they have the cap bace to keep him to they don't have to bury him in the miners they don't have to put him on waivers like he can sit in the for 775k he can sited the Press Box for all 82 games as as far as I'm concerned um that being said what I am looking for with Jack Johnson is and I kind of talked about this ear in the week is we need a seventh defenseman or the Blue Jackets need a seventh defenseman you know I'm not looking for someone who's going to come in and play you know 20 minute tonight on for you know 80 plus games what I'm looking for from Jack Johnson is I would like him to play 25 to 30 games I would like him to not be an AB disaster on the ice either defensively or offensively um if they can get out of Jack Johnson minutes like tied or better amazing two thumb up uh you know he's not going to be a gamebreaking player he's not going to be a Difference Maker on this team and that's fine you know having another adult around is probably a good thing like the the blue line is young as it is it's gotten a little bit older obviously with the addition of Damon Severson uh Eric Branson is there um Jack Johnson will be the new oldest oldest guy in town he is 37 years old will turn 38 during the season this is likely his last NHL contract if we're being honest um and like yeah I people got mad about it I I don't mind it is it the guy I would have chosen no would I give $775,000 to Jack Johnson to play hockey probably not but at the end of the day this signing doesn't move the needle in either a bad way or a good way and frankly sometimes that's the best you can ask for especially with depth defenseman um and he's not going to take I he shouldn't anyway again if we're having a conversation in like December about how he's on the second pairing and David ureich is in Cleveland or wor in the Press Box then we can get mad about it but as of right now he's not going to take ice time away from the young defenseman on this team uh you know Urich is GNA come in and have a good chance to make the team out of Camp D matok is gonna come in and have a good chance to make team out of Camp having a veteran like Jack Johnson there helps that he's won a ring I don't generally buy the this player is good on your team because he want a ring but sometimes you know you need a guy around who's played a lot of hockey and has played a lot of hockey in in one season you know like he's he has played a lot of hockey he is uh durable as well which you know is something that is a good thing for the blue jacket who have had injury struggle on on the blue line for God basically for forever you know um bringing him in he's a guy like I said 25 to 30 Games someone gets injured Jack Johnson goes into the lineup for two or three games and is not an active liability that's all I'm asking for from him and I think under I think under new coaching under new defense systems hopefully I'm still kind of looking at Steve McCarthy to move on when they hire a new coach whoever that ends up being he'll likely bring in his own assistance which I'm more than happy with um I I think I I'm not happy about this signing but I'm not unhappy about it you know I I just I feel very it is what it is Welcome Back Jack Johnson he likes it in Columbus um his family is from here like his wife is from here um his kids were born here like it's nice to have an old you know an old blue jacket back he's not going to be very effective he's not going to be very impactful but that's absolutely fine you know not every guy you don't you don't sign every single player to be impactful you know he's not going to break the bank not going to change the world just going to be Jack Johnson going to play 30 games going to be mediocre and that's fine um that's kind of all I've got on on Jack Johnson um I'm gonna talk a little bit more about him on on Monday probably talk a little bit about the other free agent signing uh Dylan Gambrell uh I want to talk a little bit about the monsters on Monday as well kind of what they're going to look like next year and if we should start to worry about how they haven't really replaced any of the ufas that walked down there um that's all coming up on on Monday's episode thank you for listening to this episode for making us your first listen of the day every single day lock on Blue Jacket is free and available on all podcast platforms on YouTube and on SiriusXM I've been J Foster you can find me on Twitter atore Jacob Foster j a k o b f o r s t r you can find the show at lore blue jacket if you have comments questions criticisms you can email me at lockjack gmail.com and until tomorrow make sure you stay locked on