Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Monahan making it tough for Flames to send him back to junior

seanmonahan

Just three games into the regular season, Calgary Flames fans are already seeing why the club used its sixth overall pick on Sean Monahan. The question now is, will they keep seeing it all season, or will he be returned to his junior club in Ottawa?

The argument for keeping Monahan: he has two goals and one assist as Calgary (1-0-2) has collected at least a point in each of its first three games.

But on the other hand: the 18-year-old center is minus-3 and, according to head coach Bob Hartley, “There’s lots of junior stuff still in his game.”

Monahan can play nine games with the Flames before they have to make a decision on whether to keep him or send him back to the OHL (and delay the start of his entry-level contract).

Calgary isn’t exactly deep at center, so if Monahan keeps producing at his current level, there’s reason to believe he could stay all season with the big club, playing meaningful minutes and gaining valuable experience in the process.

The Flames won’t want to rush him though, and delaying the start of that ELC will be tempting for a team that’s only starting its rebuild.