Prospect Info: [2022 - 1st OA] Juraj Slafkovsky (LW) Part 2

[Maitz]

Is Zednik the last Slovak player to wear the #20 for the Habs?

 

[Kennerback]

Slafkovsky #20 White
OG QF Slovakia vs USA (all his shifts)

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

The numbers prove that Galchenyuk was better at center then at wing, he was more productive and had a better +/-. How anyone can still argue that Therrien didn't do anything wrong in handling Galchenyuk is a much stranger hill to die on.

Galchenyuk is a winger. Therrien might have sucked, but can’t blame him for Galchenyuks off ice and commitment issues.

 

[Sorinth]

Galchenyuk is a winger. Therrien might have sucked, but can’t blame him for Galchenyuks off ice and commitment issues.

So he's a winger despite being less productive and worse defensively at wing then at center. Talk about dying on hills.

And for the record Therrien does deserve some of the blame for the off ice/commitment issues. Look at any job, a person's boss is going to have a huge impact on how engaged the people under them are. That's why US companies alone spend over $100 billion a year trying to improve employee engagement.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

So he's a winger despite being less productive and worse defensively at wing then at center. Talk about dying on hills.

And for the record Therrien does deserve some of the blame for the off ice/commitment issues. Look at any job, a person's boss is going to have a huge impact on how engaged the people under them are. That's why US companies alone spend over $100 billion a year trying to improve employee engagement.

When was the last time an NHL team trusted him at center?

You are making arguments from 8 years ago.

At this point we know what he is. A good talent who simply lacked the drive to be more than your typical yearly reclamation project.

 

[Belial]

The numbers prove that Galchenyuk was better at center then at wing, he was more productive and had a better +/-. How anyone can still argue that Therrien didn't do anything wrong in handling Galchenyuk is a much stranger hill to die on.

He was sheltered as hell every time he was used at center because he had no idea where his own zone was!

You can bring up the numbers all you want that won't change the fact that he was a black hole defensively.

 

[Kojo]

He was sheltered as hell every time he was used at center because he had no idea where his own zone was!

You can bring up the numbers all you want that won't change the fact that he was a black hole defensively.

He had some nice run when he was carried by Gallagher and Eller and had top PP time.

 

[Belial]

He had some nice run when he was carried by Gallagher and Eller and had top PP time.

Then it was Pacioretty.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

He was sheltered as hell every time he was used at center because he had no idea where his own zone was!

You can bring up the numbers all you want that won't change the fact that he was a black hole defensively.

I don’t even get what reason there is to be so intellectually dishonest is at this point. If Galchenyuk was able to play center in the NHL, he’d be an NHL center by now.

The guy simply lacked the drive. It’s that simple. There is a mentality needed to reach one’s potential. Gallagher had it. Pacioretty had it. Suzuki has it. Caufield has it.

Galchenyuk simply did not.

 

[ReHabs]

Can Slafkovsky play C? Remember that came up a few times?

 

[Belial]

I don’t even get what reason there is to be so intellectually dishonest is at this point. If Galchenyuk was able to play center in the NHL, he’d be an NHL center by now.

The guy simply lacked the drive. It’s that simple. There is a mentality needed to reach one’s potential. Gallagher had it. Pacioretty had it. Suzuki has it. Caufield has it.

Galchenyuk simply did not.

Therrien ruined him!!!! He was an amazing center!!!!!!

Can Slafkovsky play C?

Slafkovsky will be our next Prime Minister!

 

[smirob]

I honestly haven't watched a lot of him...does he play with a physical edge?

 

[badfish]

Can Slafkovsky play C? Remember that came up a few times?

I was thinking this too. I remember around Olympics or World Championships there were articles about how some teams saw him as a center.

Personally though it seems the Habs have a lot of options down the middle already.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I was thinking this too. I remember around Olympics or World Championships there were articles about how some teams saw him as a center.

Personally though it seems the Habs have a lot of options down the middle already.

He has played center in the past, as most top end players do in junior, but it's pretty obvious his skill-set is better served as a winger.

 

[morhilane]

I honestly haven't watched a lot of him...does he play with a physical edge?

Neither Liiga or the international tournaments he played in are considered physical leagues, but he piledrived head first on the ice a 29 old Canadian player a few inch taller than him in one of his early Liiga game and was suspended 6 games for a check to the neck/head back in January. He can get mean if that's required and his NHL game might be more physical than his Liiga one.

But he's a skilled finesse player, not a big grinder that goes around crushing players like some fans expect all big players to be.

 

[SlafySZN]

Neither Liiga or the international tournaments he played in are considered physical leagues, but he piledrived head first on the ice a 29 old Canadian player a few inch taller than him in one of his early Liiga game and was suspended 6 games for a check to the neck/head back in January. He can get mean if that's required and his NHL game might be more physical than his Liiga one.

But he's a skilled finesse player, not a big grinder that goes around crushing players like some fans expect all big players to be.

Yes, he is physical at protecting the puck, on the boards, won’t shy away from contact and attack the middle of the ice but i don’t think he’s the guy who will do the big hits, like you said he’s a finesse skilled player who happened to be a big boy and he knows how to use it.

 

[Supersonic]

I know I am a pain pig because I constantly open this thread hoping to see news, updates or content on Jurarj, only to find the same arguments from the past 2 months going back and forth

Oy vey let’s get TC started

 

[SlafySZN]

I know I am a pain pig because I constantly open this thread hoping to see news, updates or content on Jurarj, only to find the same arguments from the past 2 months going back and forth

Oy vey let’s get TC started

Few more days of wait until the rookie tournament!

 

[Apfel Struble]

Slafkovsky is the most nightmarish prospect to get a good read on with analytics that I've ever seen.

The usual thing to do when evaluating prospects is to neglect the international tournaments because of the small sample pool. This works really well for Canadian CHL prospects because the only international competition they go to is either the U18 or the U20 which amounts to only 10% of the games played in the regular season. The playoffs then show how the player elevated his game in a more pressuring environment. Joshua Roy fits this bill perfectly: 66 regular season games played in the year is more than enough to make some analytics and you can neglect the 7 WJC games

For Slafkovsky though... Of the 84 games he played last season, only 31 were reg season Liiga games. He played 25 international competition games which amounts to 80% of the number of reg season games he played in the Liiga. We can't use the same analytical approach with Slaf that we do with Joshua Roy since we will have to neglect way too many games to make our analysis; we'd only use 37% of his games played for our model and the confidence in our results would be so low we might as well just discard them.

That means that we'd have to find a way to use his international competition games (+ Liiga Junior stats, and Liiga playoffs) in our model. The problem is that his games were played against different competition; he played 6 games against U18 competition, 10 games at pro level but no NHL players in the Olympics and qualifiers and 8 games at pro level with NHL players in the WC. It's a very surface level analysis, but we can compare his stats in some of these tournaments to those of other propects:

- Slafkovsky: OG: 7G, 0A, 7P, 7GP. WC: 3G, 6A, 9P, 8GP
- Sean Farrell: OG: 3G, 3A, 6 P, 4GP. WC: 2G, 4A, 6P, 10GP
- Kent Johnson: OG: 1G, 4A, 5P, 5GP. WC: 4G, 3A, 7P, 10GP
- Matthew Knies: OG: 1G, 1A, 2P, 4GP. WC: 0G, 3A, 3P, 5GP
- Matty Berniers: OG: 1G, 1A, 2P, 4GP.

All of them were deployed as important parts of their teams offence. We can see in these both tournaments how well Slaf performed compared to other good to great prospects older than him. I'm not saying he'll be better than Berniers but I find it reassuring to see how well he did compared to those big names against a not so easy competition

 

[FF de Mars]

Well that‘s a very american way to see it : play the guys who are going to play 15 years for us rather than the guys who are going to make you win. If fans were criticizing Slaf‚s handling and quoting Djugarden as an example to follow they are completely illogical : if you have not watched their games, just look at their top prospects stats this year, they have not played a lot at all, Ostlund, Lekkerimaki, Ohgren all have played 3rd / 4th liner minutes when called. Heineman is still playing 3rd line in his D+2 in SHL.

These teams want to win their championship, their pride does not come from their name being mentioned at the NHL draft. They play their best players in order to win. And clearly the coach thought that Slaf was not as good as their 1st liners, same with Djugarden. What you are implying is that their coaches are bad because you want to see your prospects, that‘s so arrogant and immature to say the least.

If you want to learn to think properly, I‘d advise you Discours de la méthode from Descartes, yes I can namedrop too and in the original language !

Descartes is very much surpassed by Montaigne, his naive rationalism is outdated, you will never understand enough to be rational, it's an archaic chimera dating from the neo-platonicians and the stoics to think you can achieve omniscience. That's why I have unrealistic expectations aka faith! Maybe one day if we manage physical earthly immortality then we can maybe start to scratch at the idea of the ubermensh and it's not even sure and it's only a crazy dream, just look where altered carbon took the idea to; for now, we have to live with the fact it's impossible to achieve omniscience, our reason is as flawed as it gets. Pour revenir à nos moutons, I would like to maintain my argument. You are making an oversimplification thinking coaches play to win, it's all in the implementation, in the intrinsic details where what you say doesn't make sense. Sure, winning is your goal, but there are so many ways to achieve it, and you have to consider the timeline. Blue chippers are part of the equation, and you have to take them in consideration, especially since you get to keep them for a couple of years usually.

 

[RationalExpectations]

Descartes is very much surpassed by Montaigne, his naive rationalism is outdated, you will never understand enough to be rational, it's an archaic chimera dating from the neo-platonicians and the stoics to think you can achieve omniscience. That's why I have unrealistic expectations aka faith! Maybe one day if we manage immortality then we can maybe start to scratch at the idea of the ubermensh and it's not even sure it's only a crazy dream; for now, we have to live with the fact it's impossible to achieve omniscience, our reason is as flawed as it gets. Pour revenir à nos moutons, I would like to maintain my argument. You are making an oversimplification thinking coaches play to win, it's all in the implementation, in the intrinsic details where what you say doesn't make sense. Sure, winning is your goal, but there are so many ways to achieve it, and you have to consider the timeline. Blue chippers are part of the equation, and you have to take them in consideration, especially since you get to keep them for a couple of years usually.

a) You are mixing up a lot of things. Descartes has a goal called omniscience he knows he cannot achieve which is why he advocates for a process and rules to follow. The goal is not to make mistakes in our reasoning while knowing we will not know everything

b) False. Blue chippers stay at most 2/3 years in Liiga, you can't take their development into account when you want to win. Look, why invest in Slaf if you know he leaves for the NHL next year ?

 

[WeThreeKings]

 

[Habs Halifax]

Galchenyuk is a winger. Therrien might have sucked, but can’t blame him for Galchenyuks off ice and commitment issues.

Some people think a better development team would have developed Chucky into a 1C.

When was the last time an NHL team trusted him at center?

You are making arguments from 8 years ago.

At this point we know what he is. A good talent who simply lacked the drive to be more than your typical yearly reclamation project.

We likely knew what he was when drafted too. A winger/center type and they rarely develop into centers. It happens but it's few and far in between.

 

[FF de Mars]

a) You are mixing up a lot of things. Descartes has a goal called omniscience he knows he cannot achieve which is why he advocates for a process and rules to follow. The goal is not to make mistakes in our reasoning while knowing we will not know everything

b) False. Blue chippers stay at most 2/3 years in Liiga, you can't take their development into account when you want to win. Look, why invest in Slaf if you know he leaves for the NHL next year ?

a) The goal is unobtainable unless you isolate it to the smallest scientific thing, but when you compare the scientific method to the broad areas the expertise of a coach covers; or as broad as life, you reach a deadlock.

b) A couple of years is actually 2-3 years. You have to take dev into account if you want to win in Europe, those blue chippers can win you championships because they are much more talented than your run of the mill player. Maybe Slaf would have stayed? You get the point.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]