Edited Jan. 15 at 9:37 a.m.
Quoting: Campabee
Well, they both play on one of the worst and most injured teams in the NHL, we are missing 4 top 9 forwards from our roster. Monahan hasn't had the opportunity to play with actual top 6 quality wingers, he has been saddled with Anderson, Gallagher, Armia and Pearson, yet is still on pace for almost 50 points, all the while spending half his time starting in the defensive zone. If he had wingers like Ehlers and Vilardi he would most likely have double or triple the 5v5 points and be well over 40 points at this point in the season, unfortunately he doesn't get those quality wingers right now. BTW the Monahan is 42 in scoring (last I checked) amongst all centers while playing with those lesser quality wingers. So yeah his XGA isn't where it should or would be if he was on a better team but context is key when evaluating players, you should try understanding that.
Matheson is largely in the same boat, he gets to play with Savard, who even though he is a top 4 D man is not nearly a 1st pairing guy. Matheson is on pace for 60 points, are you seriously telling me that a 60 point D man on one of the worst PP and 5v5 teams in the league isn't worth a 1st+?! Like come on use your brain for just one second and pay attention to the context.
The context is most of their points are 5v4.
Monahan is on pace for 8 goals and 22 points 5v5
Matheson is on pace for 4 goals and 18 points 5v5
Their team is bad. I hear the same thing about Granlund. He is doing great on a bad sharks team. All he needs is a playoff calibre roster and... oh wait, he had that last year and sucked.
So yeah, they are on a bad team but two guys who combined are on pace for 40 points in the most abundant level of ice time they see, is not really worth a 1st, not to mention multiple 1sts.
Also, Monahan is ranked 211th out of 269 forwards with 400+ min in points scored at 5v5.
The context is Monahan hasn't been healthy or effective since 2018.
The context is Matheson has always been a poor defender and would be a nice 3rd pair / PP QB if he wasn't paid 5MM per.