Player Discussion Juraj Slafkovsky discussion

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Bergevin rarely lost a trade but they all lacked purpose or vision.

I'd say Hughes worst trades aren't as bad as Bergevin's. And their best trades, I'd rank more or HuGo in the top 10. The Suzuki/Weiss trades are hard to beat though.

Exactly.

What is a great trade Hughes has made to date?

I am willing to give him time to cook, but Bergy has made some good trades (and not so good).

Hughes trades so far overall are quite meh overall.
 
He should be focusing on Rantanen and M.Tkachuk, not B. Tkachuk.
He should be focusing on what THE TEAM has asked him to focus on. People are reading way too much into this Brady Tkachuk comparison. They want him to learn how to use the same tools not become the same player. I said this very same thing a hundred pages back. Slaf does not know how to check he's learning how to check. Once he realizes that there is an art to using Feet Body Hands and Stick when separating players from puck and living around the net he'll become twice as dangerous. I rarely see Brady Tkachuk waving his stick around like it's a magic wand his Ole Man would have hit him upside the head as a kid. Bottom line It starts with desire and I'm curious to see what kind of everyday player Brady Tkachuk becomes on the backside of that tournament.
 
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Exactly.

What is a great trade Hughes has made to date?

I am willing to give him time to cook, but Bergy has made some good trades (and not so good).

Hughes trades so far overall are quite meh overall.
Monahan x2
Chiarot for a 1st
Kulak for a 2nd
Trading up for Hage
Petry 1st trade

Then some minor wins like DeSmith, Allen.

Dach and Newhook are still to be determined
 
Exactly.

What is a great trade Hughes has made to date?
He’s made several. Trading for the pick that turned into Hutso is probably the most impactful.
I am willing to give him time to cook, but Bergy has made some good trades (and not so good).

Hughes trades so far overall are quite meh overall.
Disagree. But let’s save that for the rebuild thread
 
Monahan x2
Chiarot for a 1st
Kulak for a 2nd
Trading up for Hage
Petry 1st trade

Then some minor wins like DeSmith, Allen.

Dach and Newhook are still to be determined

It is still too early to evaluate the details of some of these trades, but at least there's a coherent overall strategy to them: That Hughes wants the team to compete for Cups in the late 2020s, in the latter part of Suzuki, Caulfield, and Guhle's contract. He does this by leveraging depth to largely acquire high potential players (like Laine, Barron, Heinemen, and Dach) of approximately the same age as Suzuki, Caulfield, and Guhle, in the hope that just a few of them hit. That comes with the known risk that most will inevitably fail.

That is a rational strategy. That said, as of now it looks like he probably needs a few more trades of this kind for this team to turn into a genuine contender.
 
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If the team wanted Slaf to learn very basic skills, as in the fundamentals, they should have probably left him in LIIGA for one year and then the AHL for one year.

I'm glad that they stopped rushing prospects after Slafkovsky.

But I wish they had stopped one prospect earlier.
It was such an obvious marketing motivated move a rebuilding team decided to make in the hopes of appeasing season ticket holders. The argument has been beaten to a pulp. I'm with you another year in Europe with a focused based approach on certain aspects of his game which didn't come natural to him would have been better for sure.
 
Bergevin rarely lost a trade but they all lacked purpose or vision.

I'd say Hughes worst trades aren't as bad as Bergevin's. And their best trades, I'd rank more or HuGo in the top 10. The Suzuki/Weiss trades are hard to beat though.

...Bergevin had the Suzuki trade fall into his lap, we all know this story...he wanted Glass, Vegas said NO you'll take Suzuki or no deal, Timmins told him to do it and he did...and Tatar was just the throw-in for Cap purposes...the Sun shined on a dog's arse that day...
 
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.
Then Hughes made a mistake imo.
 
...Bergevin had the Suzuki trade fall into his lap, we all know this story...he wanted Glass, Vegas said NO you'll take Suzuki or no deal, Timmins told him to do it and he did...and Tatar was just the throw-in for Cap purposes...the Sun shined on a dog's arse that day...
I think it’s fair to say Hughes had the Monahan trade fall into his lap even more and that is by far his biggest trade win

That’s a trade that can only be made once because of Calgary’s insane offseason and the cap crunch, people dreaming of another one of those deals are going to be disappointed

The Suzuki trade is the most positive meaningful trade this team has made in 20 years
 
...Bergevin had the Suzuki trade fall into his lap, we all know this story...he wanted Glass, Vegas said NO you'll take Suzuki or no deal, Timmins told him to do it and he did...and Tatar was just the throw-in for Cap purposes...the Sun shined on a dog's arse that day...

Bergevin still made the right move.

There's always a luck component.
 
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I always find this Bergevin revisionism a little funny because it always fails to consider he made those good trades in an effort to dismantle the unsuccessful team he built himself

tearing a team down is the easy part
 
It was such an obvious marketing motivated move a rebuilding team decided to make in the hopes of appeasing season ticket holders. The argument has been beaten to a pulp. I'm with you another year in Europe with a focused based approach on certain aspects of his game which didn't come natural to him would have been better for sure.

I think it was more over confidence than marketing. They genuinely believed they could reinvent the wheel.

Note that as far as I know it's only in hockey that this rushing nonsense exists. If an 18 year old shows up at a US air force recruitment center they won't put him in an F-35 cockpit the next day -- even if he has unicorn -tier reflexes.
 
Slaf answered my question…


He needs to be way more involved and competitive for him to be a B.Tkachuk type player. His competitiveness was seen as a top quality during draft time yet he coasts way too much. In terms of style, Rantanen is still the most appropriate, but Rantanen's IQ and goalscoring abilities are some of the best in the league.
 
Maybe his teammates need to hold him a little more accountable, love to see someone rip him for lackadaisical play.
 

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