Sean Monahan joins NHL Tonight Shan Monahan joins us now on NHL tonight Shan congratulations just the way your pictures framed up I thought you had like a halo around your head or something that's perfect you're glowing there um hey this was your uh first go round through free agency what what was that process like for you and your team and your family yeah I know it was stressful a little bit I think I mean like you said I've never been through it before um tried to weigh all the decisions and look at pros and cons of I guess a whole bunch of different situations and when we narrowed it down I thought Columbus was the best fit for myself and my family uh what made it such a good fit for you we've heard you know a lot of guys in especially the past couple of years big names going to Columbus they say it's a great NHL City kind of under the radar for you why did it check so many positive boxes yeah I know I think the biggest thing was uh I mean the family aspect of it it's uh I mean in the East it's closer to home and uh I mean I just had my first kid so I think uh being able to be close for the family and uh think it was just a a good fit overall I mean we have obviously friends there the uh the GM has spoken to me and wants to make this team as competitive as possible right away and uh that was something that I was really interested in yeah and Sean Monahan on reuniting with Johnny Gaudreau sha a factor has to be the be reunited with your old mate and Johnny hockey so that had to be a big part of it but tell us about the excitement that you have getting another chance to play with Johnny yeah no it's really exciting I mean he's like I said I mean he's one of my best friends uh played with him a long time we have a lot of chemistry um like I'm really excited to share the ice with him again I mean I'm healthy again and uh he's motivated to to have a big season so I think uh it's it's a good recipe for some success here and for Sean Monahan on coming back from injury yourself Sean you battle injuries you come back that hip and you not only play 82 games last year you play 83 you get the 26 goals uh what was it like mentally trying to get back healthy and then finally piecing it together how good did this year feel for yourself personally yeah know it felt good I think slowly I mean you come back and you start to to get in the groove again and and confidence starts to build and I mean when you get traded it's never easy just to adjust right away so I mean I think I had a four or five game stretch where I was held off the score sheet and then uh things started to flow again so I mean when you feel like yourself you have confidence and uh you have that confidence going into every game it's it's definitely huge I I want to go back to the decision to go to Columbus because there was a lot of coaching vacancies out there most have been filled right now I think Columbus uh the last one to not have their head coach uh in place was that was that a factor in your decision and if so uh what reassurances did you get from uh you know the front office that that was going to be the right fit for you when it ultimately is decided yeah no I think I mean we had conversations and I think that uh that decision is probably coming pretty soon I mean hearing the names that were talked about were were pretty intriguing and talking to other guys on the team and I mean it uh it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun and uh like I said we want to make that competitive we want to be competitive as soon as possible gotcha Welly feel free to break some news nobody's listening out there Columbus won't mind so if you if you know that feel free to tell us right now no we appreciate it hey congratulations on the new uh 5-year deal we look forward to seeing you uh at the start of next season in October in a blue jacket sweater good luck