Sean Monahan is a Blue Jacket!
The 11-year NHL veteran is headed to Columbus on a five-year contract, giving the Blue Jackets someone with a history of putting the puck in the net as well as veteran leadership.
In all, Monahan has posted career totals of 244 goals, 294 assists and 538 points in 764 NHL games (82-game averages of 26-32-58) and is coming off a 26-33-59 campaign last year with Montreal and Winnipeg.
So what should Blue Jackets fans know about the former Flames, Canadiens and Jets center?
Here’s our instant analysis on the signing of the 6-foot-2, 196-pound forward.
The basics: Monahan, 29, hails from Brampton, Ontario, and played his junior hockey with the Ottawa 67s, where he served as captain. He was selected sixth overall in the 2013 draft and went straight to the NHL, joining Calgary for the 2013-14 campaign while playing in the World Juniors as well that season. Monahan became a mainstay in the Stampede City, spending nine seasons with the Flames, but after dealing with hip injuries, he was dealt to Montreal in August 2022. He played a season and a half with the Canadiens before being sent to Winnipeg ahead of this year’s trade deadline.
The accomplishments: Monahan has had a decorated NHL career, jumping straight from the OHL to the NHL in 2013-14 and posting 22 goals while finishing eighth in the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) voting that season (his first NHL goal came at Columbus). He would go on to score 20 goals in each of his first seven professional seasons while earning an “A” with Calgary. A groin injury short-circuited his first year with the Canadiens, but he rebounded this past season to almost exactly match his career averages. He has played in at least 80 games four times, including leading the league with 83 contests in 2023-24, and placed in the top six of the Lady Byng Award voting six times. Among players drafted in 2013, Monahan is third among NHLers in career goals behind just Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov.
What it means: For the third straight season, Columbus has made a major move on the free agent market, with the Monahan signings following in the footsteps of deals with Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson (2022) and Damon Severson (2023). With this signing, the Blue Jackets add some experience down the middle, as Monahan will join a relatively young group of pivots and can help show the way for such youngsters as Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger – and eventually Cayden Lindstrom – at the center position. Monahan has been one of the better faceoff men in the league in recent seasons, winning more than 54 percent of draws the past three seasons, which will give the team another dependable option in the circle. On the power play. Monahan has had six seasons with at least eight power-play goals and is 30th among NHLers with 76 such tallies since his debut, and he can play the bumper spot. He's exactly the kind of dependable, veteran player who makes sense to add to the team's young mix at this point.
Reunited: Another benefit for Monahan will be the opportunity to play again with Johnny Gaudreau, his longtime friend and running mate with the Flames. The two played more than 5,500 minutes of 5x5 hockey – the equivalent of more than 90 60-minute hockey games – together from 2014-15 to 2020-21, generally serving as linemates while another wing cycled through. Over those seven seasons, when Gaudreau and Monahan were on the ice, the Flames outscored teams 271-226 at 5-on-5, so it’s fair to say there’s some chemistry there. Will they be reunited on the same line as Blue Jackets? Time will tell, but they’ll surely be happy to be teammates once again. "We have a lot of chemistry," Monahan said Monday. "I'm looking forward to sharing the ice with him again."
Some random things to know: Monahan has a park named after him in his hometown of Brampton, with the former Glenforest Park being renamed in his honor in 2022. ... He also played lacrosse growing up before focusing full-time on hockey, even considering going pro in the sport. One of his lacrosse teammates growing up was pro basketball player Tyler Ennis, who went to Syracuse University and played four NBA seasons with the Lakers, Bucks, Rockets and Suns before going overseas. ... His father, John, played hockey at Sheridan College, while his uncle Craig Teeple played pro hockey overseas.
