Prospect Info: [2022 - 1st] Juraj Slafkovsky

[Belial]

This management group seems to be big on "project-ability", which is something I found previous management really struggled with.

There's more of an element of risk when you go down that road, but there's also a greater chance of reward.

Slaf screams "project-ability", he's 18yrs old, 6'4 and 225lbs...will be interesting to see where he's at as a player when he's 23-24-25.

The question is, will Habs fans/media have the patience?

In my experience...the answer is no.

And what is going to be his max development in your opinion?

A winger that depends on his center to find him on the ice so that he can score in an empty net? Amaaaazing

Pretty pissed as you can see...

 

[Kaladin]

Agreed with NJ. They already have Hischier and Hughes. Their needs were either a winger (Slaf) or a dman. With Arizona, I think they simply didn't want to change their mind and just stuck with Cooley thinking MTL was gonna draft Wright for sure.

No NHL team is that dumb. They thought Cooley was better than Wright so they drafted him. If they thought Wright was much better they would have gone for him instead. I bet montreal would have picked Cooley over Wright too if Slaf didn’t exist.

 

[morhilane]

What a good kid

I think he was more happy for Mesar getting selected them when he was selected.

Really happy for his best friend.

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

If Wright wins the Calder and Slaf is so so next season, boy i wouldn't like to be in Hughes pants.

You mean shoes, right? Hughes' shoes, or was that a slip, Matthew?

 

[JoelWarlord]

And wha's the bad faith your bright mind managed to discern?

The bad faith is continually repeating that you've never seen him score a nice goal with a wrister when you have internet access.

I get it, he wasn't my pick going into the draft either, but this isn't some stone hands big bruiser guy, he has tons of skill.

 

[the]

I'm still having a hard time with his name. I'll just call him the Big Valbowski instead.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

You mean shoes, right? Hughes' shoes, or was that a slip, Matthew?

Slip lol, fixed.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

No NHL team is that dumb. They thought Cooley was better than Wright so they drafted him. If they thought Wright was much better they would have gone for him instead. I bet montreal would have picked Cooley over Wright too if Slaf didn’t exist.

Desr lord, at lesst follow-up on their stated logic. Just a week ago Arizona made a point of stating they want players who want to play in their state, which are few and far between. They chose the American kid so he'd represent.

 

[tmlmatus]

I'm still having a hard time with his name. I'll just call him the Big Valbowski instead.

View attachment 566151

separate it - Slaf-Kowski

 

[417]

And what is going to be his max development in your opinion?

A winger that depends on his center to find him on the ice so that he can score in an empty net? Amaaaazing

Pretty pissed as you can see...

I think he projects as a top line winger, just like any top 3 pick projects as a top line player.

Whether he gets there or not is anyone's guess but that goes for any player we might have potentially drafted.

I thought they were going Wright for sure but I did express some concerns about HIS project-ability and wondered if he hasn't already plateaud.

While I have other concerns with the Slaf pick, plateauing is not one of them.

I'm pretty happy about the moves made yesterday, not because I predict they're going to work out.

But because I rate that this management team has a vision and they're executing it. There's no excuse of "well doing this is hard" or "teams don't want to give that up so what can we do but throw our hands in the air and give up".

The Hawks wanted a top 15 pick for Dach


The Habs didn't have one.

They didn't just day "well darn it...another one gets away".

No, he made moves to get it done.

I HIGHLY rate that.

 

[GalHabsGal]

My only problem with Slaf, is that is IQ and Shot are questionable ...

2 of the most important things you need to perform in NHL.

I hope he improve those 2 parts of is game, because if he dont, he will just be a BIG guys who can skate with good hands and puck protection...

No improve = 35-55pts, improved shot, IQ = 50-70 Pts

 

[Kaladin]

Desr lord, at lesst follow-up on their stated logic. Just a week ago Arizona made a point of stating they want players who want to play in their state, which are few and far between. They chose the American kid so he'd represent.

Americans aren’t any more likely to want to live in Arizona than a Canadian. The only way that logic flies is if they picked the local Arizona kid Cutter.

Their best all time player Shane doan was a, wait for it, Canadian. Just accept Wright wasn’t as valued as you thought he was around the league.

 

[Deebs]

 

[durojean]

I think he can adapt to that. He doesn’t just beat you with his size, there’s a much more complete offensive player there. His play away from the puck definitely needs to improve, but his play with it is very good already.

What worries me is that those weapons are not strong enough in Liiga. I have a hard time convincing myself they will help more in a better league where nearly everyone think 2 step ahead.

I know, ice time and coaching strategies…

For example, KK has a slow release, got good hands and good size. His weapons were more effective in that league. They became completely obsolete.

Other thing that is worrying about Slaf, is that we actually never saw him in pressure situation. All what happenned to him were good surprises this year and he fed out of that. His adrenaline probably at the peak of what he could do.

Every deficiencies in his game are pushed aside and every focus is on what he does well is heightened.

It also means that we have never seen him react to that kind of pressure. His play in Liiga suggest that when he does not have confidence in his game, the downward trend could be really big and he did show a little bit that his confidence could be affected fairly easily. He even said it himself that Ramsay helped him regain it at the olympics.

In a 82 games season, when not all is going well and pressure is on him, and it will be on him, will he sulk like he did in his league, how long will those last ? Feedback on negative play will come and come really fast. Hell, we were not even ready to give KK 4 years…

 

[417]

My only problem with Slaf, is that is IQ and Shot are questionable ...

2 of the most important things you need to perform in NHL.

I hope he improve those 2 parts of is game, because if he dont, he will just be a BIG guys who can skate with good hands and puck protection...

No improve = 35-55pts, improved shot, IQ = 50-70 Pts

Haven't read or seen that his shot is weak...quite the opposite from what I've seen.

But if there's some element Suzuki-Caufield could use on RW, it's a guy with size, who can skate, has good hands and puck protection.

The reason why Anderson doesn't fit well with those 2 or rather, struggles to be consistent on that line, is because he his hands and puck protection skills are average at best.

 

[le_sean]

What worries me is that those weapons are not strong enough in Liiga. I have a hard time convincing myself they will help more in a better league where nearly everyone think 2 step ahead.

I know, ice time and coaching strategies…

For example, KK has a slow release, got good hands and good size. His weapons were more effective in that league. They became completely obsolete.

Other thing that is worrying about Slaf, is that we actually never saw him in pressure situation. All what happenned to him were good surprises this year and he fed out of that. His adrenaline probably at the peak of what he could do.

Every deficiencies in his game are pushed aside and every focus is on what he does well is heightened.

It also means that we have never seen him react to that kind of pressure. His play in Liiga suggest that when he does not have confidence in his game, the downward trend could be really big and he did show a little bit that his confidence could be affected fairly easily. He even said it himself that Ramsay helped him regain it at the olympics.

In a 82 games season, when not all is going well and pressure is on him, and it will be on him, will he sulk like he did in his league, how long will those last ? Feedback on negative play will come and come really fast. Hell, we were not even ready to give KK 4 years…

We did see Slaf in pressure situations. He scored 2 goals in the Bronze medal game to help give Slovakia its first medal. While he could have done more, his PPG did go up in Liiga playoffs. I do believe it when he says he wants the puck on his stick in big situations.

 

[ottawa]

Why am I a contrarian? He wasn’t my pick but I’m not going to whine about it. I’m going to accept him as a member of the team I cheer for and hope he dominates. You’re welcome to stew in anger but what good will it do?

And he has a really good shot. I hope he can quicken the release a bit but that’s my only knock.

That's the position most fans should be taking imo...I was hoping for Wright but will more than happily rally behind Slaf and he proves most of us wrong. The more I read up on him, the more I like him as well.

That being said, if this proves to be the wrong decision in say 5 years from now, this is fireable for me.

How does his skating compare to Wrights?

 

[durojean]

I mean this was while living in another country with another language and working as a pro athlete and training to boot. I get that you are tongue in cheek but that guy is like the anti-Galchenyuk, that level of autonomy is absolutely not common. Dude speaks probably 3 languages, there might be a hungry brain in there, let's hope he can develop his hockey IQ too

On another note, while the level of play at the Olympics and the WC wasn't that high, the best players in the SHL and Liiga still went there. Treating 1/3 of his games played last season as anecdotal because they were international tournaments is lazy analysis

Almost as lazy as negating all his regular season play because of one tournament where a lot of components are not the same.

The reality is probably in between those performances and sadly, in between them really does not equal a 1st overall draft pick…

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[le_sean]

That's the position most fans should be taking imo...I was hoping for Wright but will more than happily rally behind Slaf and he proves most of us wrong. The more I read up on him, the more I like him as well.

That being said, if this proves to be the wrong decision in say 5 years from now, this is fireable for me.

At least there’s two other teams that didn’t think Wright was everything he was cracked up to be. One even went as far as drafting another centre.

 

[ForeverHabs97]

LOL

 

[durojean]

We did see Slaf in pressure situations. He scored 2 goals in the Bronze medal game to help give Slovakia its first medal. While he could have done more, his PPG did go up in Liiga playoffs. I do believe it when he says he wants the puck on his stick in big situations.

He was in a situation where no pressure was directly on him and playing on pure adrenaline on a high. He had all the underdog kind of energy going for him.

It is not representative of real play but more representative of the play of some prospect when they get call up for the first time and put in every good situation.

Pressure to perform in that game for him was inexistant, nobody would have blame him.

 

[le_sean]

He was in a situation where no pressure was directly on him and playing on pure adrenaline on a high. He had all the underdog kind of energy going for him.

It is not representative of real play but more representative of the play of some prospect when they get call up for the first time and put in every good situation.

Pressure to perform in that game for him was inexistant, nobody would have blame him.

Sure but to be the youngest player in the Olympics and climb up the lineup and eventually win MVP is quite impressive.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Americans aren’t any more likely to want to live in Arizona than a Canadian. The only way that logic flies is if they picked the local Arizona kid Cutter.

Their best all time player Shane doan was a, wait for it, Canadian. Just accept Wright wasn’t as valued as you thought he was around the league.

Thry said their priority WAS TO GET PLAYERS WHO WANT TO PLAY THERE, which goes completely against your pet theory. They interviewed those prospects, knew which was more interested.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

His skating reminds me of Geno's