Player Discussion Juraj Slafkovsky Discussion

the guy you're quoting is pathetic. best thing that happened to him all year was Slafkovsky being overly self-critical which gave him an opportunity to pile on.
What's pathetic is all of you in denial. You needed the player himself to admit what was obvious all season long. I'm not going to elaborate why I think most of your were in denial because it won't be a charitable interpretation.
 
he's 20 years old :laugh:

Not fair to his team or fans lmao. So the 20 year old has to be a ppg monster in order for it to be "fair" to the poor fans and the team?

The only unfair thing is people expecting him to be a finished product right now
His age is irrelevant. When he's good he's good, when he's bad he's bad. If he's going to be inconsistent today he will be criticised today. No one (not me anyway) has called him a bust or said his career is washed. We know he's a work in progress but games are played all the same and he was bad (embarrassing) in games this season.

We correctly said he's been bad this season and have been vindicated multiples times over: he can play much much better than he did previously and he's shown it. His age didn't limit him. I'm perfectly satisfied with my takes on his performance because I wasn't in denial of the on-ice performance -- he had too many games with 1 or 0 SoG ffs.

True but starting next season it's imperative that he has a better off season than this past one.
I didn't get the sense that he put in as much prep work as the previous year. Slaf became very good the minute he stopped thinking and started skating. Unfortunately for him he is probably the easiest guy to pick out when he isn't skating.
Unfortunately for him he needs to play good hockey and not bullshit lazy hockey. Poor guy. I hope he can endure.
 
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You keep saying "His age is irrelevant". How can we discuss in good faith with you my brother :( still love you
If someone is making a comment or prediction on his overall career, then sure his age is relevant: he has his whole future ahead of him.

If someone is discussing his performances this season, then it has nothing to do with his age but rather his performances this season. When a player has 0 shots on goal in a match there is no difference if it's a 40 year old or a 20 year old, he's still not shooting the effin' puck. We're talking about performances and results.

Slaf was crap and now he's part of one of the best lines in the NHL. Can we be happy or is there more score-settling to be done because nasty ol' ReHabs didn't think his bullshit embarrassing performances were good?
 
True but starting next season it's imperative that he has a better off season than this past one.
I didn't get the sense that he put in as much prep work as the previous year.
I would not question that. He was training the whole summer with Erik Cernak who is a greaet role model when it comes to work ethics.
We just need to tell MSL to be more patient. Suzuki had a bad start of the season as well, he had points, but his play was terrible. Then MSL moved to Dach and kept them together for apx. 25 games. Dach was arguably the worst top6 center in whole league and was dragging everyone down. This is not about attacking Dach, but it is a fact. His -29 is not a coincidence. Slaf was also moved to different PP spot.
All he needs is little bit of consistency (keep the first line together) and we will get more consistency from him.
 
the year is 2030. Slafkovsky has had 5 consecutive PPG seasons.

Rehabs - BUT SLAFKOVSKY SAID HE'S NOT PLAYING WELL! I AM RIGHT.
Great post, good contribution. That's precisely what I would do if Slafkovsky posts 5 consecutive PPG seasons. You nailed it Anthony.
 
the year is 2030. Slafkovsky has had 5 consecutive PPG seasons.

Rehabs - BUT SLAFKOVSKY SAID HE'S NOT PLAYING WELL! I AM RIGHT.

It is possible to produce and play like shait though. I don't think that'll be the case with Slaf however -- In his case, the better he plays the more he produces.
 
I would not question that. He was training the whole summer with Erik Cernak who is a greaet role model when it comes to work ethics.
We just need to tell MSL to be more patient. Suzuki had a bad start of the season as well, he had points, but his play was terrible. Then MSL moved to Dach and kept them together for apx. 25 games. Dach was arguably the worst top6 center in whole league and was dragging everyone down. This is not about attacking Dach, but it is a fact. His -29 is not a coincidence. Slaf was also moved to different PP spot.
All he needs is little bit of consistency (keep the first line together) and we will get more consistency from him.
I don't think Suzuki's play was terrible -- maybe he was coasting a bit but he has so much heavy lifting to do it's not possible for him to play terrible hockey.

Slaf on Suzuki's line is good for them both, I hope it becomes a fixture.
 
If someone is making a comment or prediction on his overall career, then sure his age is relevant: he has his whole future ahead of him.

If someone is discussing his performances this season, then it has nothing to do with his age but rather his performances this season. When a player has 0 shots on goal in a match there is no difference if it's a 40 year old or a 20 year old, he's still not shooting the effin' puck. We're talking about performances and results.

Slaf was crap and now he's part of one of the best lines in the NHL. Can we be happy or is there more score-settling to be done because nasty ol' ReHabs didn't think his bullshit embarrassing performances were good?
Is this the beginning of your annual apology tour?
 
Yeah I was locked out because it reverted to my former username and password. Very bad crash.

I posted in the “are you okay?” Thread that the few days away made me realize I’m addicted to posting more than I am to watching hockey. So, I’m gonna take this time to slow down on the posting. Logging back out.


Slaf’s embarrassing season is being undone — good for the Habs and good for Slaf. What a shame he sucked for so long and cost the Habs valuable points. He must not disappear in the playoffs like he does in the season. It isn’t fair to his team or the fans that this hulking skilled beast chooses to not try. I’m glad he knows he can do better and is showing it.

Those of us who weren’t pathetic about and afraid of calling it what it was were vindicated when Slaf repeatedly emphasized his season was an embarrassment. Now we will happily cheer his success without resorting to ToldYaSo or “serving crow” — there’s no point.

Slaf had to play better and now he is.

He is still a big doubt because he sucks for half the season and those matches matter just as much (if not more) in determining the tone of a season.

Until he confirms he is a reliable player, if not consistent, he will be a disappointment. You can’t rely on inconsistent, unreliable players no matter how badly some of you want to steer and dominate the conversation.

His Liiga stats and your attempt at tone policing are equally irrelevant. Slaf is a Habs player and we all want his success.

Hope this helps
Trashes the guy since the day he was drafted. Now claims vindication when his play improves this year.

Folks, this is how you do it. Absolutely masterful.
 
Is this the beginning of your annual apology tour?
You mean my Vindication Parade? :)

He wasn't too young, too inexperienced, or too anything to play better -- he just needed to play better. He said so himself and now he's finally doing it. (Maybe he needed to get the hell away from Kirby Dach)
 
If someone is making a comment or prediction on his overall career, then sure his age is relevant: he has his whole future ahead of him.

If someone is discussing his performances this season, then it has nothing to do with his age but rather his performances this season. When a player has 0 shots on goal in a match there is no difference if it's a 40 year old or a 20 year old, he's still not shooting the effin' puck. We're talking about performances and results.

Slaf was crap and now he's part of one of the best lines in the NHL. Can we be happy or is there more score-settling to be done because nasty ol' ReHabs didn't think his bullshit embarrassing performances were good?
Age is very relevant when it comes to finding consistency. These kids are still figuring a lot of things out including the commitment it takes to perform well regularly in the best league in the world which is totally different than any other league he played in. Ups and downs are a very normal part of development and Hughes warned us there will be more down periods after Slaf's strong finish last spring. Nathan MacKinnon had 53 points in his 4th full NHL season and he has said that it took him that long to find consistency and maturity in his game at the NHL level.
 
Good to see him playing like he should. Not a good start to the season but now that Montreal is competing for a spot and he's showing what he can do,well done kid.
He needs to find consistency. Hopefully next season he plays this way right out of the gate. We had such a disastrous start to the year it's nice to see the team finishing strong.
 
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It is possible to produce and play like shait though. I don't think that'll be the case with Slaf however -- In his case, the better he plays the more he produces.
Or he's just a player learning how to refine his game like 99% of players have to do.

There is a different expectation because has that 1OA tag, but at end of the day, he's going through the ups and downs of most players.

I do not need to micro analyze his every shift. He's a kid, drafted as a project. I have reasonable expectations. I still think it will take another season before he fully hits his stride.
 
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He needs to find consistency. Hopefully next season he plays this way right out of the gate. We had such a disastrous start to the year it's nice to see the team finishing strong.
The team sucked from the start and he and many others were the culprits. Next season that should not be tolerated if they suck so bad from the start.
 
Age is very relevant when it comes to finding consistency. These kids are still figuring a lot of things out including the commitment it takes to perform well regularly in the best league in the world which is totally different than any other league he played in. Ups and downs are a very normal part of development and Hughes warned us there will be more down periods after Slaf's strong finish last spring. Nathan MacKinnon had 53 points in his 4th full NHL season and he has said that it took him that long to find consistency and maturity in his game at the NHL level.
Absolutely correct to say very young players are less consistent than veteran ones. It's also correct and totally fine to say he had many bad games this year. That's what inconsistency is, isn't it? Some commentators wanted it both ways: to hit at people who pointed out Slaf's bad games and to hide behind "inconsistency" without admitting what inconsistent actually meant in effect (eg BAD GAMES).

Anyone doing the denial thing was wrong then and and even more wrong today that we can all see what Slaf Playing Well looks like. It looks a lot better than Slaf Playing Crappy. There are multiple variables at play (eg linemates) but the ones he can control are his SoG and how he drives to the high-impact areas -- that's entirely his own work and his own reward. Good for him and the Habs he's woken up to undo his embarrassing season. If he was this good from Game 1 we would be a in a playoff spot.
 
The team sucked from the start and he and many others were the culprits. Next season that should not be tolerated if they suck so bad from the start.
Dach's injury threw a lot of things off. RB and Laine got hurt... MSL introduced a new system. The whole team was out of sync. But that doesn't excuse Slaf.

He was... okay but not great. Certainly not what we hoped for. We saw what he looked like at the end of last season and he's playing that way now. His play overall is a lot better but the biggest difference is that he's shooting more. He needs to do that consistently. More shots = more opportunities = more goals.

For reference, his shot numbers have doubled. Before the break he was averaging 110 per 82. Now it's 220.
 
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Dach's injury threw a lot of things off. RB and Laine got hurt... MSL introduced a new system. The whole team was out of sync. But that doesn't excuse Slaf.

He was... okay but not great. Certainly not what we hoped for. We saw what he looked like at the end of last season and he's playing that way now. His play overall is a lot better but the biggest difference is that he's shooting more. He needs to do that consistently. More shots = more opportunities = more goals.

For reference, his shot numbers have doubled. Before the break he was averaging 110 per 82. Now it's 220.
Most are aware how the season went and had they not sucked so bad at the start due to a multitude of reasons,they would not have to be playing as desperately as they must to obtain a spot.
 
Most are aware how the season went and had they not sucked so bad at the start due to a multitude of reasons,they would not have to be playing as desperately as they must to obtain a spot.
Injuries rocked us in camp. That was problem number one. Similarly, number two was Dach not being as ready as we thought he was. It just kind of snowballed from there.

End of the day, we're right where I thought we'd be. Bubble team. Just outside the playoffs trying to get in. But I had no idea that it'd shake out as it has. I knew we'd be inconsistent but to go from worst to best to losing streak to best again... :laugh: It's a really bipolar season.

Anyways, the break came at a good time. I think it gave MSL a chance to hammer some things into Slaf particularly around shooting the puck. He's a smart player with good vision but he's always looking to pass. Seeing him shoot more is making him a much better player.
 

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