Why? Slaf seems to be a pretty dynamic forward. He has a great shot, passes well, skates well, is agile, has good board play. Why would he forego those skills solely to play in front of the net. I know people see big forward and think they need to be a power forward, but it's a really silly box to place someone in.
LOL Neither Anderson nor Monahan will camp out around the net. One of the easiest aspects of becomng a power forward is learning where and how to camp-out around the net. Unless you don't think we drafted him to become that guy? With his hands he should be able to create all kind of havoc down low and in close. We got this guy to SCORE GOALS like he did in the Olympics. It was his finishing that caught peoples attention not his playmaking. You can go ahead and punch me in the face if we try to turn Slaf into a finesse player.
He needs to do both obviously but the lower hanging fruit will be found in and around the net. Nobody is asking him to forego anything the dude isn't the second coming of Adam Oates and never will be. He does have some finesse but the best we can hope for on the upside is a TJ Oshie type of player.
I don't think I'm selling his skills short at all. What I'm actually saying is he will be best served using his natural attributes to his advantage and go from there. I'm also not overrating his skillset and IQ and he certainly hasn't shown a high rate of playmaking success yet.I think you're selling his skill short. Dude's a very good passer/playmaker from what I've seen. I really don't know what the finesse/power ratio will be in his game when he finds his groove but he's got plenty of room for both. Might be too much finesse for you but I think you'll manage
You really think his upside is Oshie? I mean that wouldn't be the worst. he's great all in all but his ceiling?
His ceiling is a Rantanen type forward.
I don't think its totally wrong. I think slafkovsky can be used in multiple ways and and being a netfront presence does make some sense. Yes he has his big-ness but he also has his long reach which could be pretty helpful in getting those rebounds to score some dirty goals. It definitely shouldn't be done all the time but I can see it being very usefull against teams with small-ish defenders.
That would be bad. You don't pick Oshie type players 1st overall. Mid first maybe.
Absolutely not. Olympics were the deviation. After the Olympics, it was real Slaf. His games in Liiga, playoffs and World Champs for Slovakia. His natural style would be like 3/7 or 4/6 goals/assists ratio.
#FreeSlaf
He's not Ovechkin (or Tkachuk for that matter), but that wasn't the point. The point was that you don't try to fit a square peg into a round hole, trying to shove a pigeonhole a player to the front of the net just because he's big. There isn't the slightest indication that he's a net-front presence in his whole body of work. Playing a skill guy in front of the net randomly would be a Michel Therrien/Sylvain Lefebvre move. "We are a grinding team."
While I think standing in the general vicinity of the net is something all NHL forwards should do at some point in order to get rebounds, I see nothing in Slafkovsky's past to indicate he's a net-front player. Being big and having reach do not magically turn you into Tomas Holmstrom. You have to work with what brought the player to the dance, not try to have him do something he's never done because size.
We shall see. There is still a long runwayhead of him. The stats from those leagues are often quite irrelevant in North America. I still think finisher from what I've seen thus far.
Whatthe heck are you on about. Slaf HAS to start somewhere. Thus far he has demonstrated very little ability reading or making plays in this league. If and when he gets better linemates that may change. But his job right now is simple use his size to his advantage. That means driving the net and creating space for his team mates using his touch in front of around and behind the net to create offense. I will be quite happy if he turns out as good as TJ Oshie. We haven't drafted a super star.
Ceiling this, ... ceiling that, ...
Ceiling this, ... ceiling that, ...
Well, Slaf's ceiling is Slaf, I am enjoying him getting there.
And another poster said he’d be quite happy if he ended up like Pierre Engvall. Nothing wrong with setting the bar real low.
