Is Slafkovsky the worst #1 pick ever ?

[fsanford]

After seeing a lot of foolish people bag on Byfield at age 19, not going to bag on this 19 year old prospect.

People have no patience

 

[Deadly Dogma]

be cool if he becomes a legit star, the habs could use a marketable star

 

[SaltNPeca]

Yak put up some points in his first few years before completely cratering.

Yep, Yak brought us joy and strung our hope along for a while. He's kinda the king of busts with some great soundbites and moments. I was at the game where he slid. Such a fun game overall, just yelling and freaking out with the rollercoaster (pure Oilers). My brother still wears a Yak jersey to games for fun & trolling.

as to the OP, patience Mon frère. Lots of time for Slaf to slaf.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Yak put up some points in his first few years before completely cratering.

And gave the other team just as many points if not more with his play.

 

[The90]

I think a tier below is not unreasonable they have similar pedigree minus the draft position. Guhle WJC captain , top D for Canada , doing very well at the NHL at 20/21 years of ago. What's so hard about saying Guhle has number 1 D potential on a playoff team? I don't see that as a stretch.

This is you being ‘objective and unbiased again’ lol

 

[thebestnic]

Pretty good indicator right here that people on hfboards don't watch games... My fellow Habs fans need to chill though. Cooley and Nemec are good...

 

[Nicko999]

Slafkovsky is literally 19 and is turning up the heat and I personally believe in his skillset. While it is true we don't have Bedard and Fantilli , we have seen many teams do well with a very solid group. Suzuki / Caufield / Slafkovsky / Dach / Newhook / Roy / Beck is a very solid group to build around. Habs defensive group has also a tonne of potential with Guhle / Hutson / Reinbacher / Barron / Struble / Harris / Mailloux / Engstrom (and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few other notables). I would even argue as far as saying Habs top 4 D is nearly set with the quality of prospects in the pool and young D in the league.

The player you mentioned are kind of players that literally every team has in their prospect pool.

The fact you include Owen Beck, Jayden Stuble or Jordan Harris is telling. They wouldn't be NHLers on a good team.

I agree with you that the D are set and the quality and depth is better. However what makes our prospect pool so crappy are the forwards.
If Hughes has a major transaction in mind, to boost the forward group, my opinion might change but right now, I am not optimistic. I'd rather be in the other 31 teams shoes than ours.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

I don't see an issue with the state of the organization. The seats are full , the team had a few bad years and while they were never a powerhouse , now there are many young players doing well in the NHL and outside (WJC / Junior / AHL).

I do agree Habs don't have McDavid / Kucherov type star in their ranks but they have quite a few that are potentially a tier below and we have examples of NHL teams winning the cup withour superstars.

Should be a fun end of the decade .

Like who?

 

[AvroArrow]

I don't know how many times we see premature threads about players or teams that end up looking foolish.....I am amazed at how history repeats itself over and over again.

Difference is other players have shown flashes of brilliance. This guys highlight moments are retrieving loose pucks.

On top of that, he wasn't even the consensus #1 pick, unlike other top prospects who drafted at the appropriate position. Ask Habs fans if they'd rather have Slaf or one of Nemec/Cooley. Dude only has 12 points and pacing for 29 over a full season, that's straight up atrocious for a #1 pick, especially in this crazy high scoring era. It would be like pacing for 15-20 points in the Yakupov era.

 

[Moose Head]

After seeing a lot of foolish people bag on Byfield at age 19, not going to bag on this 19 year old prospect.

People have no patience

They were bagging on Joe Thornton at the same stage in his career as well, lol

 

[ole ole]

Is the great Slafkovsky gonna wow the hockey world with his 5th goal of the year soon?

Again just admit you haven't watched him play.

 

[CauZuki]

This is you being ‘objective and unbiased again’ lol

Never claimed to be objective and unbias??

 

[ole ole]

What in the world?

The only interesting prospects are Hutson, Reinbacher and Roy. And only Hutson has game breaking abilities.

Other teams have Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson, Mitchkov in their prospect pool.

Our prospect pool is definitely not top 10 in the league. In fact, it's closer to bottom 10.

Ranking every NHL team prospect pool, from 1-32

It pays to be a bad team in the NHL right now.

www.dailyfaceoff.com

The NHL’s Best Farm Systems Ranked - 2024-25 Preseason Update - The Hockey Writers Latest News, Analysis & More

Just like the NHL clubs, their prospect pools are all at different stages. This piece will take a look at every NHL farm system ranking.

thehockeywriters.com

2023-24 NHL Team Prospect Pool Rankings Part Three

In the third and final part of the series of the 2023-24 NHL Prospect Pool its time to take a look at the top 10 teams and their players

lastwordonsports.com

Ranking NHL's best and worst prospect pools: Nos. 1-16

Here's how the top half of our NHL prospect pool rankings shake out.

ca.sports.yahoo.com

NHL Prospect Pool Rankings - EPrinkside

eprinkside.com

NHL Pipeline Rankings: Corey Pronman's top prospects and under-23 players for every team

An in-depth look at the NHL's future with a ranking of every team's under-23 core.

theathletic.com

But i guess a pro like yourself knows more then these guys.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Other teams have Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson, Mitchkov in their prospect pool.

None of them are considered prospects anymore except Michkov.

 

[pcruz]

The player you mentioned are kind of players that literally every team has in their prospect pool.

The fact you include Owen Beck, Jayden Stuble or Jordan Harris is telling. They wouldn't be NHLers on a good team.

I agree with you that the D are set and the quality and depth is better. However what makes our prospect pool so crappy are the forwards.
If Hughes has a major transaction in mind, to boost the forward group, my opinion might change but right now, I am not optimistic. I'd rather be in the other 31 teams shoes than ours.

Caufield, Suzuki, Slav and Dach are solid players and every team would like to have them.

Slave was touted as a Jagr type player who needed a few years to grow into himself, and that's coming to fruition - don't flake on him yet.

I don't watch Habs games, so I can't talk about their blue line or prospects.

The team isn't quite as far away as the standings show.

If Mtl was in the Pacific, or the West in general, they would be comfortably in a playoff picture.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Caufield, Suzuki, Slav and Dach are solid players and every team would like to have them.

Slave was touted as a Jagr type player who needed a few years to grow into himself, and that's coming to fruition - don't flake on him yet.

I don't watch Habs games, so I can't talk about their blue line or prospects.

The team isn't quite as far away as the standings show.

If Mtl was in the Pacific, or the West in general, they would be comfortably in a playoff picture.

I've watched Slaf and Jagr enough to say thats just a poor comparison. Play nothing alike.

 

[pcruz]

I've watched Slaf and Jagr enough to say thats just a poor comparison. Play nothing alike.

Not my words.

Those are the words of hockey scouts, and summarized by Craig Button.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Not my words.

Those are the words of hockey scouts, and summarized by Craig Button.

Ok, but since you and I both know they're wrong, why continue using these quotes?

 

[Bouboumaster]

Slafkovsky makes one decent tape-to-tape pass and Habs fans are like "this guy is revving up."

To be fair, we only have like 4 guys total who cane make a goddamn pass

 

[Jeune Poulet]

Slave was touted as a Jagr type player who needed a few years to grow into himself, and that's coming to fruition - don't flake on him yet.

I don't watch Habs games

Classic stuff right there.

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

be cool if he becomes a legit star, the habs could use a marketable star

Even a non-marketable one, just give us a star, please.

 

[Voight]

Slafkovsky makes one decent tape-to-tape pass and Habs fans are like "this guy is revving up."

It's on par for them to bump a thread like this because Slafkovsky has been good the last 4 or 5 games.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Andre Veilleux was the #1 overall pick by the Rags in 1965 and never played a professional game.

Pffft. Give it time. We can’t judge picks from 1965 this early.

 

[Frank Drebin]

It's on par for them to bump a thread like this because Slafkovsky has been good the last 4 or 5 games.

Good for 4 or 5 games was looking like a pipe dream in October. Maybe he'll stagnate but his progression the past 10-15 games is a pleasant surprise

 

[ryan callahan]

People talking **** on Slafkovsky and acting like Bedard, Fantilli and Cooley haven't been net negatives to their teams is seriously amazing.