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

[CapSpace]

Here's the situation....I wanted Wright. But I'm damn glad we got Slaf. And if Owen Beck can become a Wright-lite....we won that draft.

Imagine if Mesar and Hutson reach their ceilings too...

 

[KevSkillz4]

Here's the situation....I wanted Wright. But I'm damn glad we got Slaf. And if Owen Beck can become a Wright-lite....we won that draft.

Owen Beck have high potential, he already play a pro game and he have offensive talent too. Already a future 3C no doubt. 2C if he can continue to improve his offensive ability.

He reminds me of Bo Horvat, a great two-way with good offensive talent.

 

[Andy]

Unlike KK and Galchenyuk, I find Slaf is able to make open ice for himself and make plays in tight (at least from yesterday's game). That was always something KK and Galchenyuk struggled with, even with competition of their age.

I also like the way Slaf isn't afraid to attack the middle of the ice and challenge defenders when carrying the puck in the offensive zone.

He's gotta protect himself more when carrying the puck in open ice though and across the blueline. In the nhl, he'll get rocked very quickly.

I like how he's engaged in the play. Doesn't just wait for the play to come to him. He will back check hard to make something happen and showed some pretty good reads to block passing lanes.

At the nhl he'll have to learn to simplify his game when gaining the zone. A lot of those blind passes just won't work.

 

[Hannibal]

Impressive first game. What a freak.

 

[Conflicted Habs fan]

Slafkovsky is NHL ready, he's cleared to begin playing

 

[Hannibal]

Miles ahead of Galchenyuk and KK at the same age.

 

[Andy]

One other positive sign is that he doesn’t take an extra second to make a play. His decision making is fast on the ice. So fast that a few times his line mates didn’t expect the puck to come there way. He’s clearly thinking ahead when he has the puck and not simply reacting.

 

[Whitesnake]

Slaf's game might just be an adaptation to smaller ice surface. That's all. Lack of hit in Europe vs smaller ice surface = what we saw here. Which he's still showing his huge attributes , he had more trouble in analysing the lack of space and the game being mroe about the physical aspect of it.

EVERYTHING that can be learned with time. Hence Laval for 1 year is what is needed. And he'll be a force to be reckon with in year 2.

 

[Hannibal]

And the man is not slow at all. Beast.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

He did try to do a bit too much with the puck last night, but I sure can't blame him for being excited and wanting to show people what he can do in his first official match. His enthusiasm is one of the things that made the team draft him first after all, I don't want him to ever lose that . Give me a kid who's genuinely thrilled to be on the ice any day.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

He has the body type of an Evgeny Artyukhin. And that guy was ridiculously explosive and fast at 6'4 250lbs.



He nearly broke Alex Tanguay with a hit.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

If anyone watched the rookie game against Buffalo, acceleration will not be an issue with Slaf. On the Mesar goal, Slaf took 3 x strides to blow by a Buffalo D man after being 20 feet behind him. That was the only play of the game that mattered to me regarding Slaf.

Still not 100% sold on him but the concerns over speed and acceleration for a man his size is not as concerning to me now.

 

[Andy]

He has the body type of an Evgeny Artyukhin. And that guy was ridiculously explosive and fast at 6'4 250lbs.



He nearly broke Alex Tanguay with a hit.

I wonder how Artyukhin would have fared into today's nhl. That speed/size combination alone would be very hard to contain the way the game is played now.

 

[Mudz]

Unlike KK and Galchenyuk, I find Slaf is able to make open ice for himself and make plays in tight (at least from yesterday's game). That was always something KK and Galchenyuk struggled with, even with competition of their age.

I also like the way Slaf isn't afraid to attack the middle of the ice and challenge defenders when carrying the puck in the offensive zone.

He's gotta protect himself more when carrying the puck in open ice though and across the blueline. In the nhl, he'll get rocked very quickly.

I like how he's engaged in the play. Doesn't just wait for the play to come to him. He will back check hard to make something happen and showed some pretty good reads to block passing lanes.

At the nhl he'll have to learn to simply his game when gaining the zone. A lot of those blind passes just won't work.

No he won't get rocked. The hit by Berzolla was pretty predatory. And Berzolla isn't a small guy. Yet, he was the one that ended up getting hurt. I've never seen that before. Slafkovsky is an hybrid, mi-human mi-tank.

And most of his "blind" passes will connect more at the NHL level, once he plays with actual NHL talent.

Outside of his play making ability and his hit on Berzolla, the thing that impressed me the most was his play along the boards to get the puck out of the zone.

All in all, there's to 2 things to look forward with him. How he'll be with and against NHL talent and what his learning curve will look like during the camp.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

I wonder how Artyukhin would have fared into today's nhl. That speed/size combination alone would be very hard to contain the way the game is played now.

Arthukhin was a different breed. He was raised a goon but was a gifted skater. He looks like a Dutch speed skater the way he strides so powerfully and effortlessly at 250lbs. Habs should hire Arty as a skating coach for Slaf. It only took Arty 2 strides to accelerate.

For those saying Lindros was a gifted skater i disagree. Lindros would have to wind up in order to gain speed and he would do so by circling back (goin south before goin north). He didn't have natural acceleration. Lindros was a freight train that needed lots of runway to get to full speed. That doesn't work in today's NHL.

Artyukhin's skating style is the model Slaf should be following in his skating development.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Imagine if Mesar and Hutson reach their ceilings too...

It’s kind of funny how there was a consensus at the top, and then we took Slaf then followed that with a Cooley lite in Mesar and a Wright lite in Beck, and maybe a Nemec lite in Hutson. Goes to show Slaf was the rarest of them all as there was no Slaf lite…

That all said, this could go either way for us. I really do believe Wright will be a great player as long as his head is on right. Slaf has much work to do… but the talent is special. To be that big and be able to skate and handle the puck like he can just doesn’t happen often. But… he has some habits that need work. His offensive spacing isn’t very instinctual when he doesn’t have the puck. The skating with the head down is something I’ve talked about and it could have hurt him yesterday. If he can iron out those two things I think he can be a great player himself. Everything else is there.

 

[Andy]

I don't care how big Slaf is. You can't cut across the middle of the ice in the ozone with your head down looking at your feet. That needs to be cut out of his game quickly.

It's funny, in Dach's videos, I see a player that takes a split second too long to make a decision with the puck, even though he sees the ice. Slaf yesterday was a split second too fast on some decision making with the puck. It's a good sign because it indicates that he sees the play well in advance. He just needs to learn to pace himself when passing. But the IQ is there to see the player before it happens which is super positive.

 

[jaffy27]

People were not labelling him an unicorn for nothing. Not a lot of players in the NHL ever looked like this.

He needs to fix his decisions making thought (including positional play) and adjust to the NHL speed...which I suspect will be an hurdle.

Wow….what a take on an 18yr old

99.9% of junior players need to do exactly this.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I don't care how big Slaf is. You can't cut across the middle of the ice in the ozone with your head down looking at your feet. That needs to be cut out of his game quickly.

Hopefully he learns it the easy way and not the hard way ( getting killed )

 

[Andy]

Wow….what a take on an 18yr old

99.9% of junior players need to do exactly this.

The good news is that his decision making is too fast rather than too slow. A lot easier to teach someone to slow down their vision as opposed to teaching someone to make quicker decisions and teaching them to see plays in advance.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

No he won't get rocked. The hit by Berzolla was pretty predatory. And Berzolla isn't a small guy. Yet, he was the one that ended up getting hurt. I've never seen that before. Slafkovsky is an hybrid, mi-human mi-tank.

And most of his "blind" passes will connect more at the NHL level, once he plays with actual NHL talent.

Outside of his play making ability and his hit on Berzolla, the thing that impressed me the most was his play along the boards to get the puck out of the zone.

All in all, there's to 2 things to look forward with him. How he'll be with and against NHL talent and what his learning curve will look like during the camp.

A hit like that was a learning experience. He will learn to be more aware and that he doesn't have the time/space as on the big ice. He will learn to play with more awareness on small ice.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I love when he curls back protects his puck and finds the open trailing man, all good offensive players in the league do this move, Therrien would be rolling in his grave if he saw that tho( his pro coaching at the NHL level grave of course)

 

[Junohockeyfan]

It’s kind of funny how there was a consensus at the top, and then we took Slaf then followed that with a Cooley lite in Mesar and a Wright lite in Beck, and maybe a Nemec lite in Hutson. Goes to show Slaf was the rarest of them all as there was no Slaf lite…

That all said, this could go either way for us. I really do believe Wright will be a great player as long as his head is on right. Slaf has much work to do… but the talent is special. To be that big and be able to skate and handle the puck like he can just doesn’t happen often. But… he has some habits that need work. His offensive spacing isn’t very instinctual when he doesn’t have the puck. The skating with the head down is something I’ve talked about and it could have hurt him yesterday. If he can iron out those two things I think he can be a great player himself. Everything else is there.

All the issues you mentioned are symptoms of playing on big ice and he will adjust quickly. Most Euros adjust to small ice after a few games just as Canadian players adjust to big ice for the Olympics. You learn what you can and can't do.

 

[SwiftyHab]

No he won't get rocked. The hit by Berzolla was pretty predatory. And Berzolla isn't a small guy. Yet, he was the one that ended up getting hurt. I've never seen that before. Slafkovsky is an hybrid, mi-human mi-tank.

And most of his "blind" passes will connect more at the NHL level, once he plays with actual NHL talent.

Outside of his play making ability and his hit on Berzolla, the thing that impressed me the most was his play along the boards to get the puck out of the zone.

All in all, there's to 2 things to look forward with him. How he'll be with and against NHL talent and what his learning curve will look like during the camp.

Given how he played this game, I’m excited to see how Caufield and Zukes could finish all those plays he started. He would be perfect for that line. Could be one of the better ones in the league

 

[Mudz]

Hopefully he learns it the easy way and not the hard way ( getting killed )

You mean the others guys are going to learn to not head hunt him because you actually end up hurt if you try that on Slaf, right?

I mean, it's not even a joke, 6'2'' 200 Berzolla ended up hurt! trying to Scott Stevens Slaf. He thought he had the highlight of the game. His name was made. He was going to destroy the #1 pick.

Yet, he's the one getting hurt. I mean, it was an instant meme. And the call by the play by play guy was brilliant.

"Slafkovsky meet a wall, and the wall crumbles"