If the kid survives? We are going to have one heck of a player by the time he turns 21… 3 years from now. Also, if he makes it? I don’t want to hear anything from opposing D after his rookie campaign’s cheap hits. He’s going to return the favor. He’s 18 btw…
The difference for me is that Slaf clearly has exceptional raw tools and genetics in his favour, but he struggles with the game processing, mental aspects of the game, positioning, anticipation, reaction time.
I believe he’s going to be a very good player or at least should be, but I argue what we are doing for his development this year is actually hindering his ability to adapt. We’re asking him to learn these finer aspects in the toughest league in the world when there is a league a tier below the toughest where he would still learn, but have slightly more time and space to do it. We’ve already seen him get rocked countless times for not being aware or skating with his head down etc. Not to mention he’s barely getting any ice time to improve.
I can see gradually increasing his 5vs5 time, but the kid should be stapled to the first PP unit all year long etc. if Slaf succeeds it will be because he was just too damn good to be held back and nothing to do with this 10-11 min per night shit they’ve been feeding him. It’s been reminiscent of Michel Therrien and Claude Julien’s developmental plan, a hot mess.