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

Calgary captain Giordano says Monahan’s ‘our go-to-guy’

Monahan

The Calgary Flames are off to a surprising 3-0-2 start to the season, and the surprise within that surprise is who’s leading the charge.

Sean Monahan, the 19-year-old rookie taken sixth overall at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, leads the team with four goals in five games and is impressing everybody involved with the club -- including his captain, Mark Giordano.

“He’s definitely raising some eyebrows,” Giordano told the Calgary Herald. “Now it’s almost become like he’s our go-to guy and it’s expected. He has a knack for the net and he has a great touch.

“That (goal is) not as easy as he made it look, to one-touch it from your off-side.”

Here’s the goal Giordano was speaking of -- the game-winner in Friday’s 3-2 win over New Jersey.

All told, Monahan is now making a run at Calgary’s scoring lead (he has six points; Jiri Hudler has seven) and has put himself in the mix for Calder Trophy consideration. While the early leader is undoubtedly San Jose’s Tomas Hertl (6G, 1A), Monahan is right there (4g, 2A) and doing it on a Calgary team with far less talent at forward.

Flames head coach Bob Hartley is so impressed with Monahan, he’s coming up with new descriptors on a daily basis.

“He’s a monster player,” Hartley said following the victory over the Devils. “He’s knows where to get open, plus every time I see him with the puck, it seems to find the back of the net.

“You call this a gifted player. He has that touch. He’s a very special young player for us.”