Summer Spotlight: Monahan brings leadership, offense

In the leadup to training camp in September, BlueJackets.com is featuring CBJ players each weekday this summer.

How he got here: Monahan has been one of the more consistent performers in the NHL throughout his 11-year career played largely with Calgary. The No. 6 overall pick in the 2013 draft amid an excellent career with Ottawa of the OHL, Monahan went straight from the junior ranks to the NHL and began his career with seven straight seasons of at least 20 goals with the Flames. Traded to Montreal in 2022, he missed most of his first season with the Canadiens with injury, then had a strong season a year ago. Set to be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason, he was traded to Winnipeg at the deadline, then signed a five-year contract with the Blue Jackets this summer.

The 2023-24 season: It was a bounce-back campaign for Monahan, who played only 25 games with the Habs in 2022-23 because of season-ending hip surgery. It was the first major injury of the center’s career, and Monahan showed he was back to the same old Monahan by posting 13 goals and 35 points in 49 games with Montreal and 13 more tallies with 24 points in 34 games with the Jets. He also won 54.9 percent of his faceoffs and had nine power-play goals during the campaign.

Top moment: It wasn’t Monahan’s first-ever game at Calgary, but it certainly had to be special Feb. 19 when he returned to the Stampede City and posted a hat trick for the Jets in a 5-3 loss to the Flames. Monahan scored a natural hat trick with three goals in a span of 5:17 in the opening period to give Winnipeg a 3-1 lead, scoring on the power play at 6:07, tallying just 42 seconds later and then adding the third goal at 11:24 of the period. It was one of four multigoal games for Monahan on the season.

Fun fact: Like many NHL players, Monahan is an excellent all-around athlete, and he actually was a very talented lacrosse player growing up. The sport is quite popular north of the border, and Monahan’s family played when he was a kid. He told the Canadiens’ official website last season that he actually played lacrosse before he ever played hockey, has many friends in the National Lacrosse League and still throws the ball around in the summer.

Stat to Know: When Monahan gets to Columbus, he won’t need an introduction to Johnny Gaudreau. Not only did the two of them eight full seasons together with the Flames, they were linemates for most of seven seasons, starting in 2014-15 through 2020-21. According to Natural Stat Trick, the two played more than 5,500 minutes together at 5-on-5 at the time, outscoring opposing teams 271-226 when they were on the ice together.

Expectations for 2024-25: Monahan brings a lot to the Blue Jackets, as he’s a consistent scorer – he's averaged 26 goals and 58 points per 82 games in his career – as well as a strong faceoff man, winning 54.3 percent of his draws the past three seasons. He’s also finished in the top 15 of the Lady Byng voting in his career six times and never had more than 25 penalty minutes in a season. A veteran who should add leadership to the equation, Monahan is expected to center the top line with Gaudreau and play big minutes for the Blue Jackets.