Hi, Brendan. Great question! 🙂
It’s definitely possible to change the main calendar “slug” and then have Month View be the default. This combination of settings should result in the behavior you’re looking for. Here’s how to make it happen:
1. Go to the Events Calendar Settings page.
2. About halfway down the page you’ll see the “Events URL Slug” setting: http://d.pr/i/YqSE. Change that to “calendar” (or whatever word you would prefer).
3. Click “Save Changes”.
4. Click on the “Display” tab in the Settings page.
5. The fourth item down the page is “Default View”: http://d.pr/i/onJN. You’ll want to set that to “Month”. (It’s worth noting that the Month view must be enabled for it to be selected.)
6. Click “Save Changes”.
Hope that helps! 🙂