Player Discussion Juraj Slafkovsky Discussion

[Sasha Orlov]

Slaf cares. He’s doing fine. If you do hate him, he’s still number 5 or 6 in fixes needed right now to get back in this series.

I don’t hate him at all, he played well last night
Just think this is an embarrassing display mid playoffs

 

[Kennerback]

I'm honestly not sure what you're asking in this post. Can you clarify?

What does Wickenheiser/Daigle have to do with Slafkovsky?

I also don't think he should be benched.

You obviously find him an irremediably flawed 1OA pick. If you felt he was still developping, you would’nt be shitting on a 21 year old full time. I’m OK with that, let’s assume you’re right. Now we are in a playoff, how about discussing how to play this irremediably flawed player to win this series. There’s more constructive criticism about Laine and Savard than Slaf right now.

 

[River Meadow]

You obviously find him an irremediably flawed 1st Round pick. If you felt he was still developping, you would’nt be shitting on a 21 year old full time. I’m OK with that, let’s assume you’re right. Now we are in a playoff, how about discussing how to play this irremediably flawed player to win this series. There’s more constructive criticism about Laine and Savard right now.

I think Laine is cooked, and I assume it's likely related to knee issues. If he can overcome that with surgery and/or rehab then he may come back but it looks bad right now tbh, he can barely skate.

Savard is also cooked, self-admittedly cooked. He's too old and he's called that out himself.

I'm not sure why you would put Slaf in the same camp as Laine/Savard, but you did that.

 

[LaP]

That you can't "see something" right now is very odd.

Relative to the rest of the NHL both now and historically, he's already showing something quite rare and special.

It would appear that the issue is moreso your lens rather than what he's quite objectively displaying on the ice.

There's some worrying signs displayed by Slaf.

1. He's often playing "du bout de la palette" instead of skating a bit more to finish a check. He's not always doing that but he's going back and forth between finishing his checks and playing scared. What i don't like is some posters assume it's because he's a cupcake or weak minded or whatever. It could be in fact many things. He could be scared to do mistakes. Maybe he wants to be more than just the next Protas, Cuyle or Knies (all 1.5+ years older than him) because he is a 1st overall and wont settle before 2-3 more years. Maybe it's just lack of experience/stability in stronger leagues he played only 31 games in the liiga and was moved around in junior going from Slovakia to Czechia and then Finland. He moved from league to league and country to country a lot in Europe which was certainly not good for his development early on.

2. He's often not well positioned when he doesn't have the puck. He look lost often when he tries to play a peripheral game. He's at his best when going to the net which he doesn't do on a regular basis enough. Again that's something that is fixable with experience. Most young players look lost early on. Some do for a year, others for 2 and not to rare to even take 3 or 4 years before settling in. It depends. Again slaf coming from weaker leagues and had been moved around a lot certainly did not help. Maybe he'll never figure it out. It happens. But assuming he wont because ... i don't even know why some assume he wont honestly. There's no way to know if he'll be willing to play a north and south game when he settles in and realize he's not the next "MacKinnon". I mean it took Josh Anderson 11 years to figure it out and realise he's not a rtop 6 player Everyone is different and there's no way to know until the player is in his prime. Anyone who say they know is suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect.

3. His passes are often too strong and not enough precise. I disagree with people saying he's dumb and can't make a pass. Newhook is dumb and can't make a pass. Slaf's passes are often good and by that i mean the intention is good and the play would have been good if done precisely. But his passes are often too strong, not precise enough pr not in sync with the other player. Again that's something fixable with more experience. Doesn't mean he'll fix it. But that's something he can improve if he works to improve it in practice. I'd rather have a young player who make the right pass with the wrong timing/strength than a young player who make the wrong pass but with the right timing/precision Making a brainless short pass to a player not in a good position is easy to do. Anybody even Josh Gorges can do that.

He's not perfect. But the amount of posters in this thread saying he's never going to be good or better is crazy. At the end of the day we don't know and it will take 2 to 3 more years to know for sure. The first 4 seasons of Jamie Benn were nothing that special and he started his career at 20 years old and had slightly more TOI than Slaf.

 

[Canadienna]

Whatever happens, Slaf is perfect and the haters are haters.

Wow you really torched that strawman.

 

[River Meadow]

There's some worrying signs displayed by Slaf.

1. He's often playing "du bout de la palette" instead of skating a bit more to finish a check. He's not always doing that but he's going back and forth between finishing his checks and playing scared. What i don't like is some posters assume it's because he's a cupcake or weak minded or whatever. It could be in fact many things. He could be scared to do mistakes. Maybe he wants to be more than just the next Protas, Cuyle or Knies (all 1.5+ years older than him) because he is a 1st overall and wont settle before 2-3 more years. Maybe it's just lack of experience/stability in stronger leagues he played only 31 games in the liiga and was moved around in junior going from Slovakia to Czechia and then Finland. He moved from league to league and country to country a lot in Europe which was certainly not good for his development early on.

2. He's often not well positioned when he doesn't have the puck. He look lost often when he tries to play a peripheral game. He's at his best when going to the net which he doesn't do on a regular basis enough. Again that's something that is fixable with experience. Most young players look lost early on. Some do for a year, others for 2 and not to rare to even take 3 or 4 years before settling in. It depends. Again slaf coming from weaker leagues and had been moved around a lot certainly did not help. Maybe he'll never figure it out. It happens. But assuming he wont because ... i don't even know why some assume he wont honestly. There's no way to know if he'll be willing to play a north and south game when he settles in and realize he's not the next "MacKinnon". I mean it took Josh Anderson 11 years to figure it out and realise he's not a rtop 6 player Everyone is different and there's no way to know until the player is in his prime. Anyone who say they know is suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect.

3. His passes are often too strong and not enough precise. I disagree with people saying he's dumb and can't make a pass. Newhook is dumb and can't make a pass. Slaf's passes are often good and by that i mean the intention is good and the play would have been good if done precisely. But his passes are often too strong, not precise enough pr not in sync with the other player. Again that's something fixable with more experience. Doesn't mean he'll fix it. But that's something he can improve if he works to improve it in practice. I'd rather have a young player who make the right pass with the wrong timing/strength than a young player who make the wrong pass but with the right timing/precision Making a brainless short pass to a player not in a good position is easy to do. Anybody even Josh Gorges can do that.

He's not perfect. But the amount of posters in this thread saying he's never going to be good or better is crazy. At the end of the day we don't know and it will take 2 to 3 more years to know for sure. The first 4 seasons of Jamie Benn were nothing that special and he started his career at 20 years old and had slightly more TOI than Slaf.

Thank you!

Some realistic criticism is healthy.

When he stops moving his feet and is wishy-washy in his play (not engaged, just floating) that is the most frustrating thing for me to see from him, especially when we know what he can do and we've already seen him do it before.

"But the amount of posters in this thread saying he's never going to be good or better is crazy" <-- FYI, I am not saying this in anyway shape or form. I want to see him improve and get better.

 

[Kennerback]

I think Laine is cooked, and I assume it's likely related to knee issues. If he can overcome that with surgery and/or rehab then he may come back but it looks bad right now tbh, he can barely skate.

Savard is also cooked, self-admittedly cooked. He's too old and he's called that out himself.

I'm not sure why you would put Slaf in the same camp as Laine/Savard, but you did that.

Because this thread is strictly endless complaining. The comments on Savard and Laine are also complaining but they offer solutions, like changing their usage.

 

[Miller Time]

Yeah because he’d probably start sobbing without cameras around

Someone would end up sobbing, doubt it would be either of them lol

 

[LaP]

How many of them 21 year olds were 1st overalls with 60m committed to their upcoming contract?

Since there's just one first overall a year and around 30-40% of them are elite+ talent the answer is no. But why does it matter sooooooo much? There was no elite+ talent that year. That's a fact and that should not prevent us from giving the required time to Slaf to improve his game.

 

[Captain Mountain]

We tend to make fun of Ottawa’s contract decisions , yes?

Who's "we" and which contracts? The Tkachuk, Stutzle, Sanderson, Zub and Batherson contracts were (and are) fantastic. The only relatively recent young guy they bet money on long term which was a question mark and doesn't look great was Norris, and that was down to injuries (and they still did well when trading him).

Ottawa's issues were that Dorion tried to accelerate the rebuild with trades and almost every one of those trades blew up in his face.

 

[Mrb1p]

Guys he's not your son, its fine.

He hasn't been good, were making the same excuses we (Including I) made for Kotkaniemi and Mete and Poehling and Galchenyuk and Kostitsyn and Perezhogin and Higgins and ...

Have you noticed that Hutson, Caufield, Suzuki, Guhle, Koivu, Subban, etc didn't need those excuse ? Theres just levels to players, and Slaf isn't in the second group, he's disappointing, thats all there is to it.

 

[River Meadow]

Since there's just one first overall a year and around 30-40% of them are elite+ talent the answer is no. But why does it matter sooooooo much? There was no elite+ talent that year. That's a fact and that should not prevent us from giving the required time to Slaf to improve his game.

Tbf to Slaf...

It's technically not Slaf's fault he was thrust into the NHL as a kid instead of developing in the AHL/Europe or even juniors.

It's also not his fault our GM decided to give him a huge contract based on a very small sample size of play.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Someone would end up sobbing, doubt it would be either of them lol

I’m much bigger than both and have never cried in my life but nice try

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Since there's just one first overall a year and around 30-40% of them are elite+ talent the answer is no. But why does it matter sooooooo much? There was no elite+ talent that year. That's a fact and that should not prevent us from giving the required time to Slaf to improve his game.

Yeah the Cooley that like 5 people wanted is not THAT much better.

Slaf would have to really stagnate for me to hate this pick. Even small very fixable and highly likely improvements would be huge.

What I’m betting on that might be different from others is that he has enough runway to become elite

 

[CzarDemidov]

Yeah and we know who they are.

@CzarDemidov aka ReHabs, @Mrb1p and @River Meadow are the 3 most influential parasites leading the charge with their anti Slafkovsky propaganda. It's getting sickening.

All 3 of them probably wanted Shane Wright for the first overall pick that year, so they are probably still salty about it. They won't stop until the day Slafkovsky leaves this team.

I’ve ignored your hysteria so long and I’ll continue to do so. Don’t tag me, there’s no need to do so.

 

[gusfring]

His puck handling, right now, just isn't good enough.

 

[Tyson]

His puck handling, right now, just isn't good enough.

Playoff hockey appears too fast for him and several young players.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

His puck handling, right now, just isn't good enough.

Yep. I believe that it’s much better than he’s shown. Caufield hasn’t really flashed his hands till this year. See Slaf’s draft year videos and I saw mitts.

 

[River Meadow]

Guys he's not your son, its fine.

He hasn't been good, were making the same excuses we (Including I) made for Kotkaniemi and Mete and Poehling and Galchenyuk and Kostitsyn and Perezhogin and Higgins and ...

Have you noticed that Hutson, Caufield, Suzuki, Guhle, Koivu, Subban, etc didn't need those excuse ? Theres just levels to players, and Slaf isn't in the second group, he's disappointing, thats all there is to it.

This post is hard to argue with, tbh.

I'm personally not saying he's a bust or anything or that he can't and won't improve, but as of right now, he's underwhelming, and I don't even put that all on him. He shouldn't have been in the NHL right away.

 

[Kojo]

Guys he's not your son, its fine.

He hasn't been good, were making the same excuses we (Including I) made for Kotkaniemi and Mete and Poehling and Galchenyuk and Kostitsyn and Perezhogin and Higgins and ...

Have you noticed that Hutson, Caufield, Suzuki, Guhle, Koivu, Subban, etc didn't need those excuse ? Theres just levels to players, and Slaf isn't in the second group, he's disappointing, thats all there is to it.

It was just you. I don't care about half of those players, Mete? What? Poehling? Kotkaniemi? Higgins? Nope. I think it's just you. I had some hope for Galchenyuk but what can you do. Kostityn the same.

 

[CzarDemidov]

Since there's just one first overall a year and around 30-40% of them are elite+ talent the answer is no. But why does it matter sooooooo much? There was no elite+ talent that year. That's a fact and that should not prevent us from giving the required time to Slaf to improve his game.

The fact that he’s a 1OA is why he was brought to the NHL early

The fact that he’s a 1OA is why he played like crap but was promoted to the Suzuki line (wherein he did very well for that half season and then not well for the subsequent season).

The fact that he’s a 1OA with half a good season under his belt is why he was given 60m and a max length contract

But it’s all tangential to the issue: game by game he’s not been the Slafsquatch you and I know he could be.

Do you think it’s his age that has prevented him from making a bigger impact? I don’t think so.

 

[CHwest]

Thank you!

Some realistic criticism is healthy.

When he stops moving his feet and is wishy-washy in his play (not engaged, just floating) that is the most frustrating thing for me to see from him, especially when we know what he can do and we've already seen him do it before.

"But the amount of posters in this thread saying he's never going to be good or better is crazy" <-- FYI, I am not saying this in anyway shape or form. I want to see him improve and get better.

His real issue is staying engaged, he seems to go on auto pilot more than he should.

 

[River Meadow]

It was just you.

We always hype up our highly rated/drafted prospects... for a good while..

Until the ones who continue to underwhelm are traded away, and then reality starts to set in.

 

[LaP]

Yeah the Cooley that like 5 people wanted is not THAT much better.

Slaf would have to really stagnate for me to hate this pick. Even small very fixable and highly likely improvements would be huge.

What I’m betting on that might be different from others is that he has enough runway to become elite

There was no clear 1st overall that year. You can pretend there was one if you want but hindsight is 20/20. Also Cooley has yet to prove he can be a first line center of a winning team. Jury is sitll out. I have no doubt Cooley will be the best offensive player between the two. But he has a lot to learn before being a top 10 center in this league which is what you would want a first overall to be. Center is a lot harder to play than winger.

 

[ahmedou]

Juraj Slafkovsky: ''Everyone needs to be better. And it starts with me.''