Player Discussion The Slaf Thread - Parabolic Growth Edition

[Lafleurs Guy]

Just a thought:
Would Rangers trade former 1st pick Lafreniere, who has 21 pts in 38 games this year, for former 1st pick Slaf, 21 pts in 36 games?
Lafreniere contract, $7.45 million for 7 years
Slaf contract, $7.6 million for 8 years
Thoughts?

I don’t get why we’d do this. Slaf is out producing Laf at comparable ages so… why?

 

[Gally11]

The hand wringing is overdone but he’s had a disappointing first half. We knew it was a weaker draft year and he’d never be what a typical first overall would be.

But I have confidence that he’s going to be a really solid player. It’s possible some complacency has creeped in but he’s so young and is still pacing for around 50 points.

Needs more intensity and be more physical. I’m fine with the contract and he’ll be a bargain by the end of it.

Yeah we need to look at our overall package of prospects last 3 drafts and where it will bring us instead of where people were drafted and complaining about it, we got first overall talent in Demidov at 5, top 5 talent in Hutson in the second round lol.

Slaf will be fine and a menace when all his tools start clicking; we’ve seen long enough glimpses of it that I’m confused as to why everyone is freaking out about the long term lol. It’s frustrating to watch right now for sure but Kent said several times this summer growth isn’t linear and we could see him trend backwards before he becomes who they anticipate him to become.

I think the February break will be good for him and next season he’s going to want to come in hungry if he doesn’t want to be the odd one out over Demidov on PP1 and extra man situations. He just needs to do it right which by all accounts he seems like the kind of kid who wants it.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Yeah we need to look at our overall package of prospects last 3 drafts and where it will bring us instead of where people were drafted and complaining about it, we got first overall talent in Demidov at 5, top 5 talent in Hutson in the second round lol.

Slaf will be fine and a menace when all his tools start clicking; we’ve seen long enough glimpses of it that I’m confused as to why everyone is freaking out about the long term lol. It’s frustrating to watch right now for sure but Kent said several times this summer growth isn’t linear and we could see him trend backwards before he becomes who they anticipate him to become.

I think the February break will be good for him and next season he’s going to want to come in hungry if he doesn’t want to be the odd one out over Demidov on PP1 and extra man situations. He just needs to do it right which by all accounts he seems like the kind of kid who wants it.

I don’t see Slaf as a superstar but that likely wasn’t a draft that had many. The only superstar I think wil likely come out of that draft is Hutson and we got him too.

Slaf needs to learn to use his size and up his intensity. We’ve seen glimpses of what he can do. Great second half last year and hopefully he does it again. It’s been an underwhelming year but not a terrible one.

And as weak as that draft was we really cleaned up. Slaf, Hutson and Beck is fantastic no matter how you slice it.

 

[Frankenheimer]

He’s the worst producing 1OA in 25 years.

Prove it.

 

[The Last Red]

Prove it.

Luckily Hutson might be the best producing 62OA in a while.

 

[austin316]

You can’t teach someone to be physical and engaged. Either they have that drive to win in them or they don’t.

Slaf is clearly a passenger and doesn’t have the will to win.

 

[Frankenheimer]

Luckily Hutson might be the best producing 62OA in a while.

True, but not the assertion on the table.

 

[Kennerback]

You can’t teach someone to be physical and engaged. Either they have that drive to win in them or they don’t.

Slaf is clearly a passenger and doesn’t have the will to win.

Im not sure if you’re serious or not, but either way I love your posts.

 

[JianYang]

I keep reading that he had a terrible game and then I watch highlights and see that in 29th minute of the game Habs had 5 shots on goal and two of them were high danger scoring chances from Caufield created by Slafkovsky.

Time 2:35 and 3:35.
He must have been awful for the rest of the game.

Playmaking is one of his strengths. He seems to have a natural sense for it.

I think people are more concerned about his day today compete level, and consistency.

I'm not concerned about it though, but my expectations have always been in check. I did warn people even when he had that run in the 2nd half of last year that there would still likely be turbulence moving forward.

When his career is said and done, we won't be talking about how he looked when he was 20 years old.

 

[Sorinth]

You can’t teach someone to be physical and engaged. Either they have that drive to win in them or they don’t.

Slaf is clearly a passenger and doesn’t have the will to win.

And yet it was quite common to see players not known for their physicality to go to Boston or Philly and immediatly become more physical players.

 

[The Last Red]

True, but not the assertion on the table.

I realize that but it does soften the blow somewhat.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Prove it.

It’s an objectively false claim and entirely unsurprising that he’d make it.

That being said, he’s among the worst. Not surprising though as it was a weak draft. First overalls are generally star to superstar caliber players and he’s not that caliber of prospect. Important to remember though that being among the worst 1st overalls isn’t terrible considering how good the first usually is. Slaf will still likely be a really good player.

More importantly. You can only draft what’s available to you in the draft. End of the day he’ll likely be the 2nd or third best player in the draft by the time it’s all over. He was a good pick.

Hutson I think is the clear front runner for best in class and has superstar potential. At worst we’ll have two top five players from that draft. At best we’ll have the two best players and three guys in the top ten. It was a great draft for us.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

Deleted

 

[austin316]

Im not sure if you’re serious or not, but either way I love your posts.

I’m not sure how to post GIFs but “insert GIF where Shrek is smirking”

 

[Victoire HuGo]

Prove it.

Yakupov is so much better duh.

 

[Whitesnake]

I don’t see Slaf as a superstar but that likely wasn’t a draft that had many. The only superstar I think wil likely come out of that draft is Hutson and we got him too.

Slaf needs to learn to use his size and up his intensity. We’ve seen glimpses of what he can do. Great second half last year and hopefully he does it again. It’s been an underwhelming year but not a terrible one.

And as weak as that draft was we really cleaned up. Slaf, Hutson and Beck is fantastic no matter how you slice it.

Frankly, I couldn't care less about his points. Look at all those 20 year old who suck on the scoresheet. And we all know they won't all suck like that later on. To me, it's effort. It's consistency. But most importantly it's IQ and how fast he processes the game. That scares me. A lot. If he becomes James Neal, so be it. I'm personnally not expecting already to have a real No1 overall. But there are a couple of years like that. 2006, Erik Johnson wasn't a typical No1. RNH wasn't either in 2011. Needless to say Yakupov in 2012....2014 etc. So there are quite a couple of years like that indeed, you are right.

This was a year to trade the pick. Not to pick. But now that it's done, you have to either that the psychologist....and ALL those trainers, development and so on will be on his case and will make this guy at the very least a deluxe complementary player.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Frankly, I couldn't care less about his points. Look at all those 20 year old who suck on the scoresheet. And we all know they won't all suck like that later on. To me, it's effort. It's consistency. But most importantly it's IQ and how fast he processes the game. That scares me. A lot. If he becomes James Neal, so be it. I'm personnally not expecting already to have a real No1 overall. But there are a couple of years like that. 2006, Erik Johnson wasn't a typical No1. RNH wasn't either in 2011. Needless to say Yakupov in 2012....2014 etc. So there are quite a couple of years like that indeed, you are right.

This was a year to trade the pick. Not to pick. But now that it's done, you have to either that the psychologist....and ALL those trainers, development and so on will be on his case and will make this guy at the very least a deluxe complementary player.

I still think he’ll be good. But nobody should expect a superstar.

He had streaks last year where I thought he could be something special but we haven’t seen it this year. I wouldn’t say he took a step backwards this season but he hadn’t taken a step forward either. We know he was injured early on so that might be a factor. Another thing is that he’s 20 and coming off his first big deal. Possible some completely crept in.

One other variable will be who he plays with. If Demidov is as good as we hope then he might elevate everyone around him. Hutson’s just getting started and that’s another one… talent helps talent develop. We haven’t had a superstar forward here in so long… Superstarts aren’t just great because of what they produce, they make everyone better. If Demdiov is the real deal then he might help a guy like Slaf tremendously.

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

Let's see a list with some stats.

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

I will continue to say that he's not 100% physically, he has some recurring discomfort that impact his skating/leg strength. He was faster last year and in pre-season moving from A to B.

something from that stupid pre-season fight against the Leafs maybe?

 

[Miller Time]

This thread will not age nearly as well as Slaf's contract.

Book it.

 

[Andrei79]

Frankly, I couldn't care less about his points. Look at all those 20 year old who suck on the scoresheet. And we all know they won't all suck like that later on. To me, it's effort. It's consistency. But most importantly it's IQ and how fast he processes the game. That scares me. A lot. If he becomes James Neal, so be it. I'm personnally not expecting already to have a real No1 overall. But there are a couple of years like that. 2006, Erik Johnson wasn't a typical No1. RNH wasn't either in 2011. Needless to say Yakupov in 2012....2014 etc. So there are quite a couple of years like that indeed, you are right.

This was a year to trade the pick. Not to pick. But now that it's done, you have to either that the psychologist....and ALL those trainers, development and so on will be on his case and will make this guy at the very least a deluxe complementary player.

Can you imagine if they traded the pick. 1st draft in Montreal since 2009. They have the 1st OA pick. They're committed to a rebuild... They like Slaf's profile and attitude...And they trade it.

I keep reading that he had a terrible game and then I watch highlights and see that in 29th minute of the game Habs had 5 shots on goal and two of them were high danger scoring chances from Caufield created by Slafkovsky.

Time 2:35 and 3:35.
He must have been awful for the rest of the game.

I would watch the games. Many here are unreliable narrators.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

It would be better to sign him for 8 years now than last offseason but that’s not really a big mistake

It’s all hindsight I thought he would be better this year too

 

[Frankenheimer]

Let's see a list with some stats.

I'm genuinely interested in the argument. It can only take into consideration D+2.5 to make it fair, and provide a reasonable means of comparing goaltenders, defensemen and forwards. I would be curious to see how many power fowards have been drafted 1OA among those 25.

In any case, the original point I was addressing was not where Slaf ranked in the last 25 years, but rather how many where "phenomenal", which I guess is another term for "generational". And my point stands, there are probably no more than 10 phenomenal players in that list, which means its not reasonable to "expect" you'll end up with one by drafting 1OA , particularly in a weak draft.

 

[rahad]

plus Slaf was a 1OA in a very bad draft year, wish we could have had that pick another year

Well you already know about our luck in finding a elite #1 center. Shane Wright has supposed to be the elite 1OV center in 2022....

 

[Frankenheimer]

Yakupov is so much better duh.

Last 25 years also includes Patrick Stefan and Laf. Not to mention DiPietro.