F Juraj Slafkovsky - TPS, Finland U20 (2022 Draft)

[Baaaaaaaaaaaaah]

Sure, there is few player like Sebastian Aho with bad stats in the liiga and become superstars in the NHL, but there is more bust than superstar in this category. Versus, there is some bust with good scoring rates in the liiga like puljujarvi/kakko? But, more likely, you gonna hit an nhl player when they have good stats in liiga, than the opposite. So basically, odds are against Slaf. And I don’t want to talk about olympics. When Tambellini, Manninen, Hartikainen are top scorer from this tournament, it doesnt impressive. I suspect an equal caliber in Liiga.

At Olympics he outscored Beniers, Johnson, Knies and McTavish in terms of quality of competition. That is a feat in itself. It was only 7 games, but I don't think it can be ignored.

 

[vladis271]

From the perspective of Slovakian hockey, I do not want Juraj to be Nr. 1 in this oncoming draft. I think that guys in the first round will surely receive a chance in the NHL so that added pressure being picked in the 1st spot and coming to the capitol of the ice hockey? It is not necessary. But the question is. According to results in OHL, It looks like Wright's season comes to its end.
Could a good display of Slafs in the Worlds really dethrone Wright from the 1st spot?

 

[Dread Clawz]

From the perspective of Slovakian hockey, I do not want Juraj to be Nr. 1 in this oncoming draft. I think that guys in the first round will surely receive a chance in the NHL so that added pressure being picked in the 1st spot and coming to the capitol of the ice hockey? It is not necessary. But the question is. According to results in OHL, It looks like Wright's season comes to its end.
Could a good display of Slafs in the Worlds really dethrone Wright from the 1st spot?

There's no way Wright is not going #1, and I say this as a big supporter of Slafkovsky.

 

[Dread Clawz]

I don’t think you’ve actually watched him. His speed and shot are far from his biggest strengths. His biggest strengths are his hands, his size and ability to use it and his hockey IQ. He is very good at using his body not sure what you more talking about. Literally every single scouting report out there agrees that he’s good in battles and at using his body.

I agree, he has great iq and is still figuring out how to be in tune with his big frame imo. But he has the iq and physical tools to be a dominant pf in the nhl. If he were just some hulking caveman type with no brains he wouldn't be in consideration for #2. Scouts see that he has the potential to be a dominant 1st line scoring force that can make plays and make his teammates better.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I get the concerns, and he definitely isn't a sure fire bet.

But 7 goals in 7 games at Olympics against men has to be given some real weight. And probably the most weight.

Why the most weight?

 

[BB88]

Correct.

Slaf is the best player in this year's draft. If Kakko were in this year's draft, he'd be #3 at best.

Oh C’moon.

Kakko was able to bully pros in his draft season and he was great in WC as well.

He started to ”challenge” Hughes for 1st overall

 

[BB88]

I get the concerns, and he definitely isn't a sure fire bet.

But 7 goals in 7 games at Olympics against men has to be given some real weight. And probably the most weight.

That’s a 7 game sample.
If you are taking someone 2nd overall you better look at more tape.
This should be Devils last high pick for like the next 10 years.

Slaf will go 2nd and no issues with that.
My issue is with some of these excuses here for lack of production

 

[bebl]

I don’t think you’ve actually watched him. His speed and shot are far from his biggest strengths. His biggest strengths are his hands, his size and ability to use it and his hockey IQ. He is very good at using his body not sure what you more talking about. Literally every single scouting report out there agrees that he’s good in battles and at using his body.

I've seen him play like 15~ times this season. Hockey iq very questionable and he has chance to use his body with that size and speed combination but against men he instead tries toe drags etc at the wrong times. Basically he chooses wrong play often. Ofc he wons many battles he commits cause of his size but he should use it as advantage much more.

 

[bebl]

If he were just some hulking caveman type with no brains he wouldn't be in consideration for #2.

Why? This has happened many times. Puljujärvi 4th overall in much better draft. Yakupov first overall. And im not saying he or them have caveman brains but #2 in this draft doesn't really mean he have to shine in every skill category.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Why? This has happened many times. Puljujärvi 4th overall in much better draft. Yakupov first overall. And im not saying he or them have caveman brains but #2 in this draft doesn't really mean he have to shine in every skill category.

Those are some weird comparisons. Pulju was over .5 ppg in his draft year in Liiga, and nearly ppg in the playoffs. He was also a big name in the scouting community for years before his draft. Some people here may not know, or forgot, but he was once considered in higher regard than Laine, 1-2 years before the draft. He was always projected to have a very high offensive upside. Yak was an average sized big time scorer in junior. He was already a 100 pt scorer in ohl at 16-17 years old. The hype for his offensive abilities was huge. Obviously they were misjudged somewhat, but at the time they were considered special offensive talents.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Lets take this in the right thread. (Taken from Latvia WC thread)

No it was not a fluke. Take a look at how he did those goals, it was serious skill. Doing this at his young age is nothing but super impressing.

No idea what this means, but Slafkovsky is overrated. Those 7 goals in the Olympics were a massive fluke. You just don't score on 1 in 3 shots. It's basic common sense.

 

[thomast]

Correct.

Slaf is the best player in this year's draft. If Kakko were in this year's draft, he'd be #3 at best.

Kakko was Laine and Barkov tier prospect. To me he was even most dominant offensive player of this bunch in liiga at their draft year and i watched every game off each player. Kakko have been really good on their playoff run this year and is little unlucky not to have more points. He is on verge to explode offensively, but his potential isn’t what it used to be on his draft day. His numbers are underwhelming for sure, but he still has great potential. Maybe not superstar, but #1 line winger potential.

 

[Namejs]

Lets take this in the right thread. (Taken from Latvia WC thread)

No it was not a fluke. Take a look at how he did those goals, it was serious skill. Doing this at his young age is nothing but super impressing.

It's a statistical fluke. It's extremely unlikely he's going to score 7 goals in the World Champs.

If we would normalize his expected production, it should've been around 3 points in 7 games.

 

[Hostile Offer]

I've seen him play like 15~ times this season. Hockey iq very questionable and he has chance to use his body with that size and speed combination but against men he instead tries toe drags etc at the wrong times. Basically he chooses wrong play often. Ofc he wons many battles he commits cause of his size but he should use it as advantage much more.

I saw this a lot too. He definitely has a lot of flashes of brilliance but IMO too few to consider him an absolute can't miss prospect. What's especially worrisome about him is how lost he can sometimes look with the puck on his stick, he has terrific hands and good puck skills in general but often finds himself trying to dangle through a bunch of other team's defenders. He's a really good passer though and can find lanes to make those plays but if he truly is going to be a star at the NHL level he should be able to do it at a higher frequency in Liiga. I don't really have anything against his play without the puck though, he's actually a pretty good defensive player IMO.

Definitely disagree about Slaf's ability to use his size to his advantage though. He's very strong especially for a player his age and does use that, it's really hard to get the puck off his stick. Not a power forward type but a strong puck possession player for sure.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I've seen him play like 15~ times this season. Hockey iq very questionable and he has chance to use his body with that size and speed combination but against men he instead tries toe drags etc at the wrong times. Basically he chooses wrong play often. Ofc he wons many battles he commits cause of his size but he should use it as advantage much more.

His speed isn’t even one of his best assets. He has some of the best hands in the draft and is good at using his combination of great puck handling and size down low and along the boards. I’m not sure why you keep talking about his speed. He’s not a speed guy. You can’t find a single scouting report saying the things you’re saying. What you’re saying just doesn’t make sense. There’s people that think his IQ is good, there’s people that aren’t sure but pretty much every single person agrees that he’s good at using his body and has really good hands.

 

[Kcoyote3]

It's a statistical fluke. It's extremely unlikely he's going to score 7 goals in the World Champs.

If we would normalize his expected production, it should've been around 3 points in 7 games.

 

[brakeyawself]

All this talk in his low production numbers is creeping me out. I really hope he has a monster WC . Devils really need a player like this but cannot have him under produce and be a Zacha or Kassian type player.
Sucks that Devils can’t see if they can sign Nuke and or trade for Jesse Puljujarvi prior to draft then take Jiricek.

I feel like Puljujarvi is Slafkovsky's floor. I mean unless he just completely busts for some unforseen, major reason. Like he's a mutant and his feet are actually river trout covered in electric tape.

But really, I don't see him ending up like Zacha or Kassian. People are making way too big a deal out of his Liiga production, or lack there of. He literally just turned 18 on March 30. Which means the vast majority of his Liiga play was as a U18. Not every 17 year old is going to be ready to produce against adults. But that doesn't mean their future potential isn't just as high or higher than others who have produced in Liiga at that age.

I mean look at Kakko. He was one of the better U18 players to step on the ice in Liiga and he can't manage any offense in the NHL. Suggesting, using Liiga performance as a metric for U18, or perhaps any age, doesn't automatically correlate with NHL success. And yea, I know Kakko is just 21. And he's shown well in other areas of play. But that's not why he was hyped and drafted so high. It was because of how many points he was putting up in Liiga as a teen. But clearly, that doesn't translate directly to NHL success. So no matter how you look at it, Slaf's Liiga stats should be taken with a grain of salt. And there are so any variables that can alter the success in Liiga. Like who a guy is playing with, the ice time, the general quality of the team etc..

Slaf is a project. Undoubtedly. But aside from like Wright and Nemec I guess, who isn't a bit of a "project" in this draft class?

 

[kudla]

It's a statistical fluke. It's extremely unlikely he's going to score 7 goals in the World Champs.

If we would normalize his expected production, it should've been around 3 points in 7 games.

Looks like he is only 2 points away from proving you wrong, again.

 

[Rockomax]

What about these guys and Olympics? How many goals did they score there back then?

Lol Olympics, the same tournament involving David Desharnais and washed up Eric Staal?

 

[Rockomax]

None of those players have Slafkovsky's upside.

You're getting too hung up on numbers.

Slafkovsky has physical gifts that those guys don't, and it makes his upside much higher. His size and wingspan allows him to do things those players couldn't dream of. And he's only now just starting to put it all together.

Slafkovsky's year-to-year growth will be more substantial than any player on that list.

We'll see, but there are legitimate red flags with Slafkovsky. His skating is very ordinary and his hockey IQ as well. He doesn't use space and teammates all that well. I'm not a fan, as you can see. But he does have enticing attributes, there's no denying that.

 

[tmlmatus]

Looks like he is only 2 points away from proving you wrong, again.

looks like he actually got 2 assists today.

Lol Olympics, the same tournament involving David Desharnais and washed up Eric Staal?

he was a 17 year old playing against men, I don't put too much weight behind tournaments either but his Olympic performance was much more impressive then someone putting up points in a WJC tournament.

 

[Rockomax]

looks like he actually got 2 assists today.



he was a 17 year old playing against men, I don't put too much weight behind tournaments either but his Olympic performance was much more impressive then someone putting up points in a WJC tournament.

I actually agree. However, people talk and act as if the Olympics had nothing different compared to previous Olympic tournaments. He has an impressive tournament, but it wasn't by any means an all world tournament.

Edit: as for the current world championship, I'm curious to see him against stronger teams. His 2 assists so far are nice and all, but were collected in the game against France.

 

[Colezuki]

I actually agree. However, people talk and act as if the Olympics had nothing different compared to previous Olympic tournaments. He has an impressive tournament, but it wasn't by any means an all world tournament.

Edit: as for the current world championship, I'm curious to see him against stronger teams. His 2 assists so far are nice and all, but were collected in the game against France.

This is my take as well, let's see how he does against a US, Canada, Sweden, Finland team as opposed to france

 

[tmlmatus]

Edit: as for the current world championship, I'm curious to see him against stronger teams. His 2 assists so far are nice and all, but were collected in the game against France.

yeh, one was an empty net assist and the second one was off of a tip; so nothing to really write home about.

He did play pretty well today however. He always looks like the best player on the Slovak team (which isn't saying much).

 

[brakeyawself]

Sure, there is few player like Sebastian Aho with bad stats in the liiga and become superstars in the NHL, but there is more bust than superstar in this category. Versus, there is some bust with good scoring rates in the liiga like puljujarvi/kakko? But, more likely, you gonna hit an nhl player when they have good stats in liiga, than the opposite. So basically, odds are against Slaf. And I don’t want to talk about olympics. When Tambellini, Manninen, Hartikainen are top scorer from this tournament, it doesnt impressive. I suspect an equal caliber in Liiga.

Actually, I think you will find there is far less correlation between U17 Liiga success and ultimate NHL success. Sure, there are some high end guys that performed very well in Liiga and became high end NHL players. But there are just as many that performed good to very good and ended up just mediocre NHL players or depth players or didn't even stay in the league And then a few of those that performed poorer in Liiga and became better NHL players or at least are developing well in the AHL/NHL. This years draft has a few on this list, mostly in the middle range as far as performance. And while I like Granlund, he's a very good player, but I wouldn't put him in the same category as like Barkov obviously. And Laine I would say is a very good player, but hasn't quite lived up to his potential. Pulju finally rounding into a decent player. But I think still not the potential many saw, and certainly rebounded from what looked like possible bust. Kotka is TBD as well. Armia, Lehkonen, nice depth players. Lundell I think will be a better NHL player. TT about right etc... And a bunch of guys who did well in Liiga but didn't make the NHL. So I really wouldn't worry that much. Plus Power Forwards traditionally take longer to mature and come into their own. Maybe because they have to adjust to a bigger growing body or something. Or maybe because they are used to having a size advantage and have to learn to live without that. Not sure. But either way, I don't think we can tell anything definitively from U18 Liiga production.

50		Jari Kurri
1		Aleksander Barkov	1995	F	2012‑13	53	21	27	48	8	18	9	0	1	0.396	0.509	0.906
2		Mikael Granlund	1992	F	2009‑10	43	13	27	40	2	11	3	0	3	0.302	0.628	0.930
3		Kaapo Kakko	2001	F	2018‑19	45	22	16	38	10	1	7	0	7	0.489	0.356	0.844
4		Patrik Laine	1998	F	2015‑16	46	17	16	33	6	6	9	0	4	0.370	0.348	0.717
5		Artturi Lehkonen	1995	F	2012‑13	45	14	16	30	12	12	3	0	4	0.311	0.356	0.667
6		Jari Torkki	1965	F	1982‑83	34	13	17	30	34	-31	2		1	0.382	0.500	0.882
7		Joel Armia	1993	F	2010‑11	48	18	11	29	24	9	9	0	2	0.375	0.229	0.604
8		Jesse Puljujärvi	1998	F	2015‑16	50	13	15	28	22	5	7	0	3	0.260	0.300	0.560
9		Jesperi Kotkaniemi	2000	F	2017‑18	57	10	18	28	20	-1	2	0	3	0.175	0.316	0.491
10		Jouni Rinne	1956	F	1973‑74	32	19	7	26	7					0.594	0.219	0.813
11		Jarmo Lilius	1957	F	1974‑75	34	17	9	26	4					0.500	0.265	0.765
12		Juuso Ikonen	1995	F	2012‑13	57	13	13	26	4	1	3	0	0	0.228	0.228	0.456
13		Joakim Kemell	2004	F	2021‑22	39	15	8	23	2	-13	8	0	3	0.385	0.205	0.590
14		Risto Jalo	1962	F	1979‑80	32	13	10	23	16	-41	1		0	0.406	0.313	0.719
15		Reijo Ruotsalainen	1960	D	1977‑78	30	9	14	23	4		1		3	0.300	0.467	0.767
16		Tuomo Ruutu	1983	F	2000‑01	47	11	11	22	86	7	5	0	3	0.234	0.234	0.468
17		Juha Jyrkkiö	1959	D	1976‑77	34	14	7	21	37		6		1	0.412	0.206	0.618
18		Timo Jutila	1963	D	1980‑81	36	9	12	21	44	27	1		1	0.250	0.333	0.583
19		Jari Kapanen	1954	F	1971‑72	30	14	6	20	4					0.467	0.200	0.667
20		Anton Lundell	2001	F	2018‑19	38	9	10	19	8	6	2	0	3	0.237	0.263	0.500
21		Mikko Kokkonen	2001	D	2018‑19	56	3	16	19	20	-16	1	0	0	0.054	0.286	0.339
22		Tapio Koskinen	1953	F	1970‑71	29	11	7	18	15					0.379	0.241	0.621
23		Teuvo Teräväinen	1994	F	2011‑12	40	11	7	18	6	-5	5	0	1	0.275	0.175	0.450
24		Janne Virtanen	1968	F	1985‑86	25	11	6	17	10	12	0	0	0	0.440	0.240	0.680
25		Esa Isaksson	1947	F	1964‑65	18	9	8	17	4					0.500	0.444	0.944
26		Matti Hagman	1955	F	1972‑73	13	11	5	16	7					0.846	0.385	1.231
27		Voitto Soini	1938	F	1955‑56	10	9	7	16	4					0.900	0.700	1.600
28		Roni Hirvonen	2002	F	2019‑20	52	5	11	16	14	1	0	0	2	0.096	0.212	0.308
29		Brad Lambert	2003	F	2020‑21	46	7	8	15	18	-24	1	0	0	0.152	0.174	0.326
30		Jorma Laapas	1942	F	1959‑60	17	13	1	14	4					0.765	0.059	0.824
31		Lauri Mononen	1950	F	1967‑68	20	11	3	14	6					0.550	0.150	0.700
32		Pekka Kuusisto	1945	F	1962‑63	18	10	4	14	4					0.556	0.222	0.778
33		Juhani Tamminen	1950	F	1967‑68	20	9	5	14	12					0.450	0.250	0.700
34		Arto Javanainen	1959	F	1976‑77	34	9	5	14	8		2		0	0.265	0.147	0.412
35		Mika Alatalo	1971	F	1988‑89	34	8	6	14	10	-4	0	0	2	0.235	0.176	0.412
36		Hannu Lukkari	1952		1969‑70	22	7	7	14	6					0.318	0.318	0.636
37		Kasperi Kapanen	1996	F	2013‑14	47	7	7	14	10	-8	2	0	0	0.149	0.149	0.298
38		Rasmus Kupari	2000	F	2017‑18	39	6	8	14	12	4	2	0	0	0.154	0.205	0.359
39		Ville Heinola	2001	D	2018‑19	34	2	12	14	26	7	1	0	0	0.059	0.353	0.412
40		Jonni Vauhkonen	1975	F	1992‑93	41	8	5	13	63	-13	1	0	1	0.195	0.122	0.317
41		Sebastian Aho	1997	F	2014‑15	30	4	9	13	8	6	0	0	0	0.133	0.300	0.433
42		Pertti Nieminen	1936	F	1953‑54	9	10	2	12	4					1.111	0.222	1.333
43		Rauno Lehtiö	1942	D	1959‑60	16	9	3	12	8					0.563	0.188	0.750
44		Juhani Jylhä	1946	F	1963‑64	18	9	3	12	6					0.500	0.167	0.667
45		Aleksi Saarela	1997	F	2014‑15	51	6	6	12	18	-7	1	0	1	0.118	0.118	0.235
46		Veli-Pekka Ketola	1948	F	1965‑66	19	8	3	11	12					0.421	0.158	0.579
47		Marko Kiuru	1969	F	1986‑87	40	8	3	11	2	-13	1	0	0	0.200	0.075	0.275
48		Pekka Rautakallio	1953	D	1970‑71	31	6	5	11	18					0.194	0.161	0.355
49		Matti Forss	1957	F	1974‑75	27	4	7	11	33					0.148	0.259	0.407