Prospect Info: [2022 - 1st] Juraj Slafkovsky

[DAChampion]

Is he going to the AHL or LIIGA next year?

 

[Agalloch]

Is he going to the AHL or LIIGA next year?

Hughes yesterday said he will play in North America next year... Mtl or Laval

 

[NotProkofievian]

Is he going to the AHL or LIIGA next year?

Dunno. I'd like to see him in Laval.

 

[Tyson]

He's been playing against men for a couple of years now, he'll probably make the team right away.

It would take an atrocious camp for him to start in Laval IMO.

The ability to send him down here and there is important.

 

[TheBuriedHab]

You can see why they fell in love with this kid as a person.

He seems very genuine

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

He better f***ing pan out. A regular north of 70 points.

 

[Belial]

The ability to send him down here and there is important.

Sure if he looks like crap send him down but if he looks like crap it will raise a lot of questions.

 

[Tyson]

Sure if he looks like crap send him down but if he looks like crap it will raise a lot of questions.

All young 18 year old players will have difficult moments.
My expectations for him is just to get acclimated to NHL level competition and maybe grab 15-20 goals.

He obviously is by no means a finished product.

 

[BenchBrawl]

He better f***ing pan out. A regular north of 70 points.

As if Wright and Cooley are likely to hit that lol

 

[Tyson]

I was in the Wright corner but I have zero issues drafting this kid.
I read about him last year about him potentially being a top pick for this draft.
Excited to have this player.
What I am not excited about is trading for Kirby Dach...
Maybe MSL gets this kid going.

 

[Scotianhab]

Hughes yesterday said he will play in North America next year... Mtl or Laval

What about Erie? They hold his rights. Let him dominate the OHL. We’re in no rush.

 

[Tabarouette]

 

[durojean]

The fact that two other teams passed on Wright should tell people that this wasn’t nearly the slam dunk pick some thought it was. He looks closer to Sam Reinhart than Patrice Bergeron, and you don’t take Sam Reinhart first overall.



Meanwhile, they could repel the Red Army with this kid’s wrister.

That, you take 1st.

Honestly, I would have been ok either Nemec or Cooley at 1st.

Nemec is supposed to be the best defenceman in the draft and have 1st pairing upside.

Cooley, while I felt was doing too much, and beneficiate from less bump in the road in his development, at least seemed more spectacular and seemed to have the IQ.

My problem was way more with Slaf, he is a project and I’m still searching the hockey IQ even when I look at his good games. He does not know how to be in good position on the ice and does not read the play well at all. Hockey IQ is the hardest thing to learn. He is really good with the puck on his stick and doesn’t even play that physical.

Seriously, I feel like the idea of Slaf is amazing and it is easy to get convince by it. But the reality of him is another thing entirely. Really, really raw prospect. I just hope the game will slow down for him at the nhl level otherwise this pick will be another mistake for us.

 

[le_sean]

Our greatest prospect since Carey Price.

Well I hope so. He’s the 1st overall pick lol

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

So did we draft Armia , Anderson or Mario Lemieux boys? Lmao

 

[habergeon]

I like the pick, if all goes well he'll start the year with Suzuki / Caufield.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Well I hope so. He’s the 1st overall pick lol

Yeah but he's a subpar one, if we're being honest. And we had two 3rd overall picks in between. That were both subpar too. The gods are against us.

That said, Slaf is still exciting.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I understand that Wright made the choice more difficult than it had to be. But if we chose wrong, sorry HuGo, you go on the pile with Bergevin and the biceps brigade.

Let’s wait to see if he was actually wrong.

Slaf is not who I’d have picked. It’s a risky pick that I feel we didn’t need to take. But in Mackenzie’s poll he came in ahead off Wright.

I haven’t seen any of them play so my opinions aren’t too baked here. But I’d have gone with the history of success. The scouts disagreed though. So, I’m going to sit back now and wait and see. Hopefully, it works out. If not, THEN I’ll rip the decision.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The most extreme is Nick Ebert, who went from being talked about as a potential first overall pick in his D-2 year, to the literal last player taken in his draft, and subsequently busting.

There is also the case of Angelo Esposito, who was seen as a sure-fire 1st overall, borderline generational prospect in his D-1 year, to falling to 22nd overall, and then busting. 5 years after being drafted, he was working as a real estate agent lmao.

Point being, players on downward trajectories heading into the draft, like Wright is, almost never turn it around.

Sean Day is another well-known example of this pattern.

Wright is headed for Bustville, in all likelihood.

Wright’s “decline” coincides with the Covid lockdown. It’s a different situation. I think it could end up being a huge miss.

Again, we’ll see…

 

[NotProkofievian]

Let’s wait to see if he was actually wrong.

Slaf is not who I’d have picked. It’s a risky pick that I feel we didn’t need to take. But in Mackenzie’s poll he came in ahead off Wright.

I haven’t seen any of them play so my opinions aren’t too baked here. But I’d have gone with the history of success. The scouts disagreed though. So, I’m going to sit back now and wait and see. Hopefully, it works out. If not, THEN I’ll rip the decision.

I agree, not saying that HuGo was wrong to pick Slaf, only time will tell who is right.

 

[Hannibal]

This guy is gonna be so hard to contain with his size, speed, skills!! What a pick!!

 

[Cournoyer12]

Welcome to the organization! Excellent young talent to bring into the team.

Big Fella!

 

[durojean]

The most extreme is Nick Ebert, who went from being talked about as a potential first overall pick in his D-2 year, to the literal last player taken in his draft, and subsequently busting.

There is also the case of Angelo Esposito, who was seen as a sure-fire 1st overall, borderline generational prospect in his D-1 year, to falling to 22nd overall, and then busting. 5 years after being drafted, he was working as a real estate agent lmao.

Point being, players on downward trajectories heading into the draft, like Wright is, almost never turn it around.

Sean Day is another well-known example of this pattern.

Wright is headed for Bustville, in all likelihood.

The comparison between Wright and those players is laughable and neither of them had to deal with COVID. Those player actually regressed in their CHL season.

Wright had a bad year but he still progressed. His progression curve was just altered and freakin nobody seems to acknowledge that COVID had an effect among NHL scout. Nearly all of the OHL progression curve have been altered and that is why more european got drafted this year. I feel like Wright not at first is an aberation and COVID will be used as an explication and an excuse in the futur to explain how 3 players got in front of a lot of Wright.

 

[durojean]

This guy is gonna be so hard to contain with his size, speed, skills!! What a pick!!

No he won’t he was pretty easy to contain all year long in real structured hockey.

Tournament are different, there is less structure because system are less effective in those.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Wright’s “decline” coincides with the Covid lockdown. It’s a different situation. I think it could end up being a huge miss.

Again, we’ll see…

Even though I was Team Wright, I was very concerned about the lack of urgency in his game and many scouts were too. Clearly. Once considered a generational talent, got passed by 3 NHL teams. 2 of which has a glaring hole at Center needing to be filled.

What scares me is that Wright turns it around, becomes that 90pt player and and Slaf is just your average 50-pt power forward. That’s still a decent outcome, but it’s not 1st OVR outcome and it’s not going to win us a Stanley Cup.

The organization better be committed to The Dishonor for Conor, because we still have a glaring hole at Center. Unless they genuinely love Riley Kidney’s upside and see him behind Suzuki in the future…