Is Slafkovsky the worst #1 pick ever ?

[Lshap]

Some people feel compelled to have an opinion NOW rather than wait a bit to have an informed opinion.

 

[branch]

Not saying Slaf shouldn't have went 1st overall, it's impossible to know, but man Logan Cooley would have looked great with his frat bro brother Caufield for the next 10 years. Weird drafting by Gorton.

 

[Voight]

Two goals against Finland, one each against Sweden and the United States. At 17 against seasoned pros.

There were no active NHL players. So yea, seasoned pros in the minor leagues maybe.

 

[BrendanGaunce4Selke]

he's never been the same since the schenn hit

 

[Moose Head]

Not saying Slaf shouldn't have went 1st overall, it's impossible to know, but man Logan Cooley would have looked great with his frat bro brother Caufield for the next 10 years. Weird drafting by Gorton.

Hughes made the pick. He’s pretty in the know about NCAA guys, so he obviously wasn’t sold on Cooley for some reason. I’ve heard rumours about his work ethic, but Cooley has looked really good so far though and looked great at the ladt WJHC’s and didn’t notice any laziness.

 

[Zalos]

There have been multiple number one picks who never played in the NHL, so the objective answer to the OP's question is a big fat NO.

The truth is that he was selected 1st in a very average draft year. In a better draft he probably would have gone between #10 and #20.

Personally, his story so far reminds me of Kotkaniemi. Shows promise, but his development is slow. Just like with KK, we need to give him a good 3-4 years before thinking of giving up on him. He's still too young.

It's not like anybody expected him to be a superstar in the league. I'd be satisfied if he became a strong, steady 60-70 points player. Anything above that would be amazing.

 

[Reality Czech]

Kakko was amongst the best players in the Liiga in his draft year, then followed that up by being amongst the best players for his team at the WC, Slafkovsky barely made the Liiga and was rather underwhelming there.

Their pedigree pre-draft isn’t anyway comparable.

Fair enough. I still think Kaako was drafted too high because of his dominance at the WC but point taken.

 

[CDN24]

Joe Thornton was a good player in his second year, even putting up 22 points in his final 31 games and close to a ppg in the playoffs. He was a bit of a partier. His first season, they played him less than most teams play their 4th line players. He jumped like 6 minutes more per night average through those first 3 years. I guess the points weren't all there in the second second season, only reaching 40ish, but he was a good player.

If Thornton put up 22 in his final 31 that year it means he put up 19 in his 1st 50 games to go along with the 7 he had in 55 in year one. So 26 in his 1st 105 games or just under .25 pts per game. Slaf has 11 points in his first 44 games or exactly .25 pts per game.

It might be a tad early to anoint him worst no 1 overall ever. Especially with guys like Yakupov and Patrik Stefan in the running

 

[AvsGuy]

I don't know if he'll be the worst 1st overall pick ever, but I'll say that having two consecutive top 5 picks and coming away with Slafkovsky and Reinbacher looks pretty disappointing on paper

And that Jeff Gorton top 10 drafting record - wow, real bad stuff

 

[Moose Head]

Fair enough. I still think Kaako was drafted too high because of his dominance at the WC but point taken.

I think the vast majority of GMs would have taken Kaako or Lafreniere where they were picked.

 

[Frank Drebin]

this says everything....

Slaf had a good game yesterday

Good compared to his previous games, or good for a legit nhler? Cause that offside was dumb dumb dumb

 

[TGWL]

If Thornton put up 22 in his final 31 that year it means he put up 19 in his 1st 50 games to go along with the 7 he had in 55 in year one. So 26 in his 1st 105 games or just under .25 pts per game. Slaf has 11 points in his first 44 games or exactly .25 pts per game.

It might be a tad early to anoint him worst no 1 overall ever. Especially with guys like Yakupov and Patrik Stefan in the running

He got 8 minutes a night his first season. But it's not about points. Joe was a good player and didn't take 3 seasons to become a good player. I'm not saying Slaf isn't going to be a good player, break out, etc. I constantly see fans trying to compare Joe Thornton to every prospect who needs time, but the comparison is bad because Joe was a solid player.

 

[Frank Drebin]

I don't know if he'll be the worst 1st overall pick ever, but I'll say that having two consecutive top 5 picks and coming away with Slafkovsky and Reinbacher looks pretty disappointing on paper

And that Jeff Gorton top 10 drafting record - wow, real bad stuff

Not excusing the habs drafting but the poho usually isn't in charge of drafting. These picks fall on Hughes and habs head scout

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Good compared to his previous games, or good for a legit nhler? Cause that offside was dumb dumb dumb

do we not see offsides happen every game... ur here judging a player because he went offsides once?

 

[Frank Drebin]

do we not see offsides happen every game... ur here judging a player because he went offsides once?

Alright the kid will be great

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Not saying Slaf shouldn't have went 1st overall, it's impossible to know, but man Logan Cooley would have looked great with his frat bro brother Caufield for the next 10 years. Weird drafting by Gorton.

I agree time will tell but GMs have this weird obsession with size

 

[OKR]

Fair enough. I still think Kaako was drafted too high because of his dominance at the WC but point taken.

Hughes and Kakko were the obvious 1&2 tho, pretty much from the start the only question was who would go 3rd from multiple options. Hughes and Kakko both went on to have remarkable draft years that only helped solidify that.

At the time you would’ve been considered crazy to not have them as the top 2.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

If Slafkovsky is getting all these premature threads after a rookie season of 10 points 39 games, I can only imagine if HFBoards was active when 1st overall pick Joe Thornton had 7 points in 55 games in his first season..

This place got worse the last decade, just like society.

Between 2003 and 2010 there weren’t so many kids around here.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Jeff Gorton Top 10 picks:

JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY​

ALEXIS LAFRENIÈRE​

KAAPO KAKKO​

DAVID REINBACHER​

LIAS ANDERSSON​

VITALI KRAVTSOV​

I have been a Gorton fan for years but that little snippet is a bit of a bad look.

All "ifs and buts" but interesting to imagine Montreal with Cooley, Michkov, Tkachuk and Oettinger.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

For really big players it takes longer to develop. How many times it has to be repeated?

Us Jets fans have heard that one repeated over and over with Logan Stanley. We are still waiting….

 

[Rebels57]

Looks fine to me for a 19 year old who missed half his rookie season. Not exactly a star but the draft was not good at all in 2022.

It was pretty clear Logan Cooley was the most talented forward prospect last year. No idea why professional scouts keep making the same mistakes year after year and overvalue size and performances in small-samples.

 

[Godzilla]

This thread is ridiculous.

 

[Cup or Bust]

It will be hard to find a more fundamentally bad hockey player chosen first overall then Nail Yakupov. There may be guys who are disappointing offensively or skill wise but positionally and simply having a lack of awareness on how to play the game, it will be hard to top Yakupov. At least if a guy has some fundamental skill and positioning to play the game you can still get usefulness out of him in a worst case scenario.

 

[Moose Head]

Good compared to his previous games, or good for a legit nhler? Cause that offside was dumb dumb dumb

Overall he looked good last night. If he plays like that every night, the points will come.

 

[PavelBrendl]

Seems like a reasonable conclusion to draw after 44 games.