Is Slafkovsky the worst #1 pick ever ?

[blundluntman]

He was literally drafted last year. Are you joking?

 

[missionAvs]

He was literally drafted last year. Are you joking?

He sucked last year too.

 

[blundluntman]

He sucked last year too.

Too soon to say he's the worst 1st overall draft though. He may be if he never becomes a decent player but he isn't the first and won't be the last to have a bad 1st year. After year 3 I'll be okay with that kinda verdict if he doesn't improve at all.

 

[Cenzo_]

I love developing my 1OA to be a plug

I sure wonder what your thoughts were with Hugues first season, he sure became a plug

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Watch the games people, Slaf is playing just fine using his big frame to win puck battles, making good passes with his line playing some good defense. Points will come but sure look at hockey DB and give us your your expert opinion...

He looks terrible man let’s not pretend lol

On the Habs boards we’re getting excited when he makes a pass, standards simply have to be higher for a 1st OA

 

[Voight]

I think he'll be a late bloomer like Puljujarvi

Uhhh you mean the guy who never managed more than 36 points and is out of the league at 25 years old?

Seems like anytime Montreal gets a top 5 pick, the draft class is absolute garbage

You just love to see it.

 

[Voight]

They shot themselves in the foot by starting him in the NHL because now it'll be seen as some big demotion even though he's never belonged in the NHL. What are you doing drafting a guy you say is a project and treating him as if he's an NHL ready player rather than a project?

They did the same thing with Kotkaniemi.

Lucky for the kid, Carolina seems to haver turned around his development.

 

[StreetHawk]

Too soon to say he's the worst 1st overall draft though. He may be if he never becomes a decent player but he isn't the first and won't be the last to have a bad 1st year. After year 3 I'll be okay with that kinda verdict if he doesn't improve at all.

Poor development decision to have him in the NHL last season. Should only promote players after they have exceled in their last league. Should have been in the AHL last season if he wasn't going to return to Europe.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

They did the same thing with Kotkaniemi.

Lucky for the kid, Carolina seems to haver turned around his development.

Or....he was 21 years old and was nowhere near a finished product.

He was just as bad in Carolina for the first 1.5 seasons as he was in mtl. That kid still had a lot of development left regardless of where he was.

Montreal didn't ruin him, Carolina didn't save him - he was merely a raw 21 yo who needed more time

 

[Albatros]

He sucked last year too.

Olympic MVP, Slovak player of the year, excellent at the World Championships as well. Even in the NHL he was easily the best 2004-born player with ten points in 39 games. Shane Wright got two, no one else even one.

 

[Brodeur]

I meant for management. Who was the last 1st overall to not spend basically the whole year in the NHL?

Owen Power and Erik Johnson were the last ones in recent memory. Chris Phillips and Bryan Berard had contract squabbles with Ottawa back before ELCs got more regulated. Maybe not a coincidence those were all defensemen as well since that tends to have a steeper learning curve in the NHL.

Under normal circumstances, Power maybe could have turned pro right away. But he (and Beniers) mentioned their freshman years being odd due to the pandemic and he wanted a year of a normal college experience.

 

[Hisch13r]

Olympic MVP, Slovak player of the year, excellent at the World Championships as well. Even in the NHL he was easily the best 2004-born player with ten points in 39 games. Shane Wright got two, no one else even one.

Sucking less than others doesn't mean he didn't suck. He was not an NHL caliber player by a long shot and clearly didn't belong in the NHL

 

[Reddwit]

I don’t think he’s the worst, but it’s amazing to see how susceptible GMs and scouts are to hype. Slafkovksy has a good potential package, but after the Olympics (?), scouts were drinking the koolaid and disregarding how far Slaf had/has to go to reach that potential.

 

[Albatros]

Sucking less than others doesn't mean he didn't suck. He was not an NHL caliber player by a long shot and clearly didn't belong in the NHL

He played in 39 games with minimal ice time and scored 10 points. The Habs had eight players that scored more than 20 all season. Obviously he needs several years before he's physically ready to be an impact player in the NHL, and that's perfectly fine. Even Eric Lindros didn't play his first NHL game until he was older than Slafkovský is now, and even then wasn't a Calder finalist in his rookie year.

 

[BamBamCam]

Bad draft year, I believe the consensus 1st overall for this draft is currently playing in the AHL. Also Doug Wickenheiser says hello

 

[Frank Drebin]

Bad draft year, I believe the consensus 1st overall for this draft is currently playing in the AHL. Also Doug Wickenheiser says hello

Wickenheiser (RIP) had a very slafkovsky like rookie season with 15 points in 45 games but he followed those up with 35 in 56 games and 55 in 78 games in the next two seasons.

It would be considered a huge success if Slafkovksy scored at a 50 point pace this season and or next.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Olympic MVP, Slovak player of the year, excellent at the World Championships as well. Even in the NHL he was easily the best 2004-born player with ten points in 39 games. Shane Wright got two, no one else even one.

Only 2 played, I think

 

[Golden_Jet]

He played in 39 games with minimal ice time and scored 10 points. The Habs had eight players that scored more than 20 all season. Obviously he needs several years before he's physically ready to be an impact player in the NHL, and that's perfectly fine. Even Eric Lindros didn't play his first NHL game until he was older than Slafkovský is now, and even then wasn't a Calder finalist in his rookie year.

Lindros didn’t play because he wouldn’t play for Quebec. So that year played some junior and the national team and Olympics.

 

[MadLuke]

I meant for management. Who was the last 1st overall to not spend basically the whole year in the NHL?

Owen Power the 2021 draft pick ?

Covid year maybe made it look less special and obviously Defensemen of that age have different expectation.

Played only 8 nhl games in 2021-2022

 

[StreetHawk]

He played in 39 games with minimal ice time and scored 10 points. The Habs had eight players that scored more than 20 all season. Obviously he needs several years before he's physically ready to be an impact player in the NHL, and that's perfectly fine. Even Eric Lindros didn't play his first NHL game until he was older than Slafkovský is now, and even then wasn't a Calder finalist in his rookie year.

That's the issue. Habs were not going to be good last season. Unless he was excellent in his Euro club team, he was better off going to the A or have the Habs work to get him up a league in Europe if he wasn't in the top league where he was playing. Jump to the NHL was too much. No reason to have blown an ELC year for 10 freaking points. He played 39 games, but did he also accrue a year towards UFA? If he was on the Habs roster for half the season, that accrues a year and would make him UFA at age 25.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I meant for management. Who was the last 1st overall to not spend basically the whole year in the NHL?

Owen Power, like literally the year before

 

[malcb33]

So at 19 and being drafted as a long-term project, Slafkosky is being labelled as a bust and the worst 1OA pick, after 45 games in the NHL...

It is honestly mindblowing that so-called "educated" fans feel they can predict a 19-year-old's career. It's extremely short-sighted, to say the least.

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

He played in 39 games with minimal ice time and scored 10 points. The Habs had eight players that scored more than 20 all season. Obviously he needs several years before he's physically ready to be an impact player in the NHL, and that's perfectly fine. Even Eric Lindros didn't play his first NHL game until he was older than Slafkovský is now, and even then wasn't a Calder finalist in his rookie year.

Did I just see a Lindros comp ? I think you need to do a bit of research on Big Eric’s situation…. He sat out the year as he refused to sign w Quebec ; I don’t see how the situations are remotely comparable.

 

[Help]

there is a case to be made for this, not a particularly balanced or convincing case, but one could make a flimsy, early case. sadly, OP did not want to put forth the effort to do so. disgraceful posting

 

[Roomtemperature]

Owen Power, like literally the year before

What is time