Quoting: Howie
He's definitely not the 2nd best center he's just onow to be available. His
Analytics are poor and based om that I'd rather perry for a playoff run than Monahan.
Hes also not as good as copp Bertuzzi Barbashev when they were traded, had better analytics and don't have injury concerns
Name another C available other than Lindholm who is better (there is only Henrique who is debatable). FYI, if you think Novak, he isn’t available unless a huge overpay and even then, Nashville would rather keep him as they are still competing for the playoffs.
When he was traded, Copp never had a 40 pts season. Yes, he was on pace for 51, but he still wasn’t good offensively until then. Teams could easily determine an irregularity.
Barbashev also was a 4c until the season before. When he was traded, he had a worse pace than Monahan now.
Bertuzzi also didn’t have a lot of great season. One really good one but wasn’t good at all the season he was traded. He also plays a lesser valuable position.
Another guy who had a worse season than Monahan when he was traded for a first, a second and a third was O’Reilly, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to use him as an example due to his experience and pedigree in the league.
On top of that, the reported asking price for Monahan is a first or a second and a good prospect and Hughes is known for rarely changing his asks.
I could see maybe a high second, but really not less than that. The worst comparison for him is Domi. He got a second last year. But Domi is known to be a playoffs ghost (at least he was in Mtl, don’t know if he did better in Carolina).