Too soon to say dominant I think, just like it’s too soon to call him a bust.
A bit funny to see this now after all the celebration posts from last year on how we were so lucky we didn’t pick Wright.
It’s way too early to call. As I said it’ll be years before we know.
Yes, I know you did. The book is still out. I judged Slaf prematurely myself. I felt like he looked way over his head and then he responded with a dominant 2nd half. He’s not necessarily having a terrible year, but if by lying if I said I didn’t expect more. I consider the year to be a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for big things from Slaf, Newhook, Dach, Hutson etc. The only one that has exceeded expectations was Hutson. Dach gets a mulligan, but I’m still not crazy about his game at all.
It’s not his game and tbh I don’t think it ever will be. It’s very hard to change a 20 year old after he’s been playing a certain way his entire life. TBH, I think it would be a mistake to try to force this on him. A good leadership group would try to highlight his strengths and work on him being able to utilize those to his best ability. Changing who he is fundamentally seems like a recipe for disaster, rumour is Hughes told him to start playing like a power forward. I was a bit disappointed to hear that.
I agree with that, he needs to play his game, but that doesn't mean his game can't evolve as he adds a few more elements to it. I doubt Hughes drafted him to be a skill guy, he drafted him to be a monster power forward with skill. I'm not asking him to fight and be a pest but I'd like to see him incorporate a certain level of physicality as a core part of him game.
The exact same argument could be made for Galchenyuk circa 2015Took a look at how Slaf is actually doing vs his contemporaries.
He’s 1st in points in his class. (Cooley will soon pass him)
Only 8 players from the previous draft have more points
Only ten players from the 2020 draft have more points
Connor Bedard from the 2023 draft has more points.
He’s doing fine. In the 2022 draft the only players I see who might be better right now are Hutson, Cooley and Wright. More may emerge but as of now that’s it. Let’s assume Wright and Cooley turn out better. That makes him the 3rd best and we got Hutson (hands down the best player in the draft) to go with him.
50 points a year isn’t bad at all for a player his age. For reference Suzuki and Caufield were just breaking into the league at the same age. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be disappointed in this season. I think we all expected more. But he’s hardly a disaster. And he could very well end up as the 2nd best in the draft behind Hutson. Cooley looks like he may make that difficult though.
I always use 2003 draft class as the example:
He was the right pick. It was a weak draft but he had talent.
I wasn’t in favour or Slaf being rushed: but he looked fantastic at the end of the year. I think the “rushed” thing is an aside at this point.
Okay but the narrative is that he’s struggling. No he’s not. Not relative to his class or previous classes. He’s fine.
Right. But why is there the hand wringing right now? He’s at the top of his class.
Sure. I am too. But that’s because he finished so strong last year. My expectations were raised.
Right. So why are some posters drawing the conclusion (or suggesting) that this is all he’s ever going to be? He’s a 20 year old player. Comparing him to Suzuki and Caufiled is dumb. They were just breaking into the league at this stage.
