Player Discussion The Slaf Thread - Parabolic Growth Edition

[Victoire HuGo]

That's his max ceiling if he keeps getting this playing time (which I think he won't because he is not producing enough to warrant it). Let me ask you something, Heineman, who plays 4-5 minutes less per game, if he was given the same PP time and playing time, would he put up better numbers than Slaf. Yes or no?

Slaf's skating is not looking good lately, I don't see him as strong on the puck as I hoped yet, and I don't see him going end to end to start offensive plays. I don't think he's bad, I just think that we jumped the gun with that contract. I also think his numbers will start dropping even more when other players start getting more ice time.

Heineman is the flavor of the month right now. It's early to put a ceiling on any young player but I don't think he'd top Slafkovsky's 50 pts ish pace playing those kind of minutes. Going by points per 60 is not a straight forward exercise. Not all players will automatically go off the second they are handed more minutes

 

[Victoire HuGo]

I keep yapping about this but I'm not liking his lack of shots and I'm not huge on his role on the PP. He seems to be clueless as to his role beside being net front.

However can we stop rewriting history and pretend that on a good amount of nights Slaf was the draw that was stirring the drink on the first line. He was winning battles that he had no business winning and making crazy passes to his linemates. This guy has the potential than to be more than a complimentary piece

 

[austin316]

The video the Canadiens twitter account posted tells me everything. You can visibly see him pouting and sulking in the locker room after the win.

Get this cancer out of our locker room

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

I wish he had a little more Radulov in him

 

[McGuires Corndog]

The video the Canadiens twitter account posted tells me everything. You can visibly see him pouting and sulking in the locker room after the win.

Get this cancer out of our locker room

He better get it together, because Demidov is going to pass him like he’s standing still.

 

[Victoire HuGo]

The video the Canadiens twitter account posted tells me everything. You can visibly see him pouting and sulking in the locker room after the win.

Get this cancer out of our locker room

What video?

 

[EtLeBut2]

I wish he had a little more Radulov in him

Maybe he'll find some Radulov when he's playing in the KHL after his inevitable buy out

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

He's not far off last year's pace. Maybe I'm crazy, but I've been impressed with his defensive game and his back-checking. They seem to be improving to me. He's been having a hard time scoring though.

 

[Canadienna]

The amount of people who didn't read the OP (fair) but still feel like they should chime in with what they think it says is indicative of broader issues.

 

[InsideLaine]

I wish he had a little more Radulov in him

And I wish my wife had a little more of me in her. Both scenarios are a mere wet dream.

Slaf will bounce back we all know it. Lets just hope it happens already this season. Sucks if one guy starts to get too satisfied and hence loses the drive he earlier so clearly possessed.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Slaf won’t hit true form till 25-26 years old
I don’t know what his true form is however

The work ethic issues will sort themselves out

 

[Sorinth]

If you think he won t be a finished product in the next 3 years, you wasted 3 years on an expensive contract whereas you may have been able to postpone this contract by 2/3 years via a Bridge with more certainty about what he really is.

At the risk of paying significantly more for the last 5 years of the contract. Time will tell whether the risk was worth taking or not, but as a general principle there's nothing wrong with taking that type of risk.

 

[Habs]

That's one perception.
The other is, behind the scenes, he is one of the first on the ice in practice, and one of the last off in practice......his team mates love his efforts.

The kid is going to be a beast...........that said he has had some pretty tough moments this season.

Again.........he is 20 !!! Most don't play in the league until 20-22 and he has played 100 games already.

So is Gallagher and Anderson, they work very hard yet everyone complains about those contracts. I don't see the on-ice effort this year, just glimpses of skill. He isn't engaged at all. If you told me he played last night I would have said BS.

I'm rooting for him, but man it's hard to like his game this year even though he's so young.

 

[Victoire HuGo]

At the risk of paying significantly more for the last 5 years of the contract. Time will tell whether the risk was worth taking or not, but as a general principle there's nothing wrong with taking that type of risk.

Agreed, it rarely backfires. Cases like Wennberg, Colin White and Michalek are the exceptions to the rule.

 

[Bombshell11]

Slafkovsky was playing like a finished product at just 19 for a majority of last season. Typical of Montreal fans, once the level has been raised, so have the expectations forever. It was the exact same thing with Carey Price. He came out hot as a rookie already looking like a starter and the moment he came back down to earth and started having inconsistent stretches, our fans were ready to drive him to the airport. People need to relax on this one for now.

For Price though you had alot of people just straight up lying for him, specially in the media, saying stuff like “even jesus wouldnt do better”

Also Halak completely out perfomed him and its only resonable to expect fans to get mad,

Then the party rumours and the photos of him smoking 3 cigarettes, chugging beers and other things came out online.

And then we learned that he had consumption issues.

Who in their right mind would want a player like that in their club?

If Slaf is also partying too much and does things that will affect his game on the ice to the point where he cant play good hockey, no amount of gaslighting from the media will be enough to cover his a@@.

Hes 20 sure but he also dint come in to the nhl with mcDavid’s talents so he doesnt have the luxuary to sabotage his health and not be at peek perfomance in every game


also Price was the best Goalie you could ever hope to pick if you wanted a goalie. Like you said he did very well in his rookie year. Huet seemed to be a good mentor for him. Why did they let Huet go? Yhats on Gainey and the administration… im sure Price would have benefited by playing behind Huet for a few years

 

[sampollock]

its the way of sports.
Pay a guy lots and hope he turns out.
Normal world you earn you wage increase.

fact of sports. which means we need to wait to see if KH was right in giving him the coin and not because he was a #1 pick

 

[rahad]

I have no problem with negociating one year before if the player is already a core and steady player, I wanted them to wait this year to see if he would take the next step. I feel like young players don't put the same effort knowing they have 50M guarantee in the future

I did not see the need to rush his contract after one good season. We could have sign him this summer. Is kinda funny, people want to do the same with Lane Hutson this summer. Sign him a big contract after one good season.

How about we wait until summer of 2026 to sign Hutson contract after 2 seasons in the NHL? What the risk? That Hutson put up 100pts next season and we need to pay him 12m?

 

[Habs]

50 pts at age 19 = Jack shit.


Got it.


It was a gamble (obviously, it always it), but the returns are far from over yet, he's not even in his contract yet and hes 20

The history of players with one terrific contract year are plentiful. He will fail to get 10 goals this year and 30 pts is looking like his target for this season. Regression can be acceptable, but his homies are not regressing and he gets primetime ice. Heineman is outscoring him with almost any PP time. He isn't fast this year either which is concerning and is not controlling the play down low like he was last year. Something is up with this kid, he better figure it out because you don't just 'turn it on' in the NHL it's an unforgiving league.

 

[Victoire HuGo]

I did not see the need to rush his contract after one good season. We could have sign him this summer. Is kinda funny, people want to do the same with Lane Hutson this summer. Sign him a big contract after one good season.

How about we wait until summer of 2026 to sign Hutson contract after 2 seasons in the NHL? What the risk? That Hutson put up 100pts next season and we need to pay him 12m?

There is more risk for the player than the team. Bigger sample means bigger case or stronger one for comparables. He'll be on top unit on day 1 next year too.

The history of players with one terrific contract year are plentiful. He will fail to get 10 goals this year and 30 pts is looking like his target for this season. Regression can be acceptable, but his homies are not regressing and he gets primetime ice. Heineman is outscoring him with almost any PP time. He isn't fast this year either which is concerning and is not controlling the play down low like he was last year. Something is up with this kid, he better figure it out because you don't just 'turn it on' in the NHL it's an unforgiving league.

He's on pace for 48 pts right now and that's while playing with the anchor that Dach is. Oh wait the narrative changed on that one...

 

[morhilane]

In the video showing Dobes getting "The Glasses", you can Slaf shortly massaging his legs right above the knees (and he doesn't look too happy either).

 

[Sorinth]

Agreed, it rarely backfires. Cases like Wennberg, Colin White and Michalek are the exceptions to the rule.

Eh, that's a harder to case to prove because you kind of have to look at the players who didn't get a long term deal and were bridged but also filter to guys who were at least being considered for a long term deal.

I personally don't think this deal will backfire on us, and it's kind of reminiscent with the whole Suzuki was the one with the worst contract in the NHL.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Just think about how good we’ll be when he gets his game back.

 

[Habs]

There is more
He's on pace for 48 pts right now and that's while playing with the anchor that Dach is. Oh wait the narrative changed on that one...

He's playing with Dach because he can't keep up with the top line but he's still getting on the PP. If Slaf was a 3rd round pick or lower, he would have had a different contract, it's a nice benefit being a 1OA pick. Jacke Evans is having a terrific year, oddly enough.. his contract year...

 

[SlafySZN]

In the video showing Dobes getting "The Glasses", you can Slaf shortly massaging his legs right above the knees (and he doesn't look too happy either).

He looks normal. People create scenarios.

Just like on twitter when Demidov was benched earlier in the season and they showed him on the bench, people said he was sulking and pouting while he was just…there and living lol.

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

They must be showing him videos of himself dominating last season right?

He needs to get angry and get stronger.