Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[HuGort]

I think Bobrov must be doing hypnosis. only explanation as to why you would listen to a guy who drafted Lias Anderson and Kravstov top 10

Going to set organization back a couple of years if Slaf ends up like them. Lot of talent was on the board when he was picked.

 

[SlafySZN]

He doesn't see the ice really well. Come on now, remove the rose-colored glasses. If he saw the ice clearly, he wouldn't have so much hesitation in his play.

He DOES see the ice well and makes good plays. It’s the timing and the speed of the game that he still has to adjust to.

 

[BLONG7]

Slaf wasn't my pick at draft. But Hughes must have seen something in him.

They knew he was a project..........they stated they drafted him, because they felt he will become the best player in that draft.
People are struggling with this.............stay tuned.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

He DOES see the ice well and makes good plays. It’s the timing and the speed of the game that he still has to adjust to.

Timing is seeing and predicting player positions. That's what seeing the ice is.

 

[Jaynki]

The team is 5-2-1 because of Allen lastest performances and Caufield Suzuki Monahan carrying the entire team offensively in an easy schedule. You are not playing the right way if your only goal that u scored in like 35 games was a wide open net. Advanced stats are probably the worst indicative to look at. If his ''advanced stats are so good '' then tell me why hes literally the worst player on ice every games.

Seattle are taking their time with Wright , they let him cook instead of rushing him.
Jiricek had a great season last year in the AHL and now after that season , he looks much much better than he did in like the 5 games he played this season.
Cooley had the same approach as Jiricek. Let him cook another season now he's doing pretty good for a 19 year olds in Arizona a dumpster team.
Nemec also been not ready so he's still playing in the AHL. They are giving him a good 2 years to process playing pro hockeys.

All those players also went to the WJC in december , while Slaf was kept for 0 reason.

The management of Slaf is alot to be blamed for this. The 4 others are doing better or progressing better.

KK was also a god tier mistake and look what happened.

Atleast with Reinbacher they seems to have learned not because u draft top 5 u gotta put the kid in the NHL and put him on the front line .

The team is 5-2-1 for a plethora of reasons. Those you mentioned but also the performance of Matheson, Guhle and Barron. We wont finish anywhere close to the bottom if these guys continue eating up those minutes at this level of play.

Now on Slaf and his advanced stats, they are nothing advanced or magical. They are simply stats. He has twice as much puck touches versus last season. He is 8th in the league for puck battle won and he is also the 1st on the team for chance in the offensive cycle.

It is what it is. A couple more point would totally change the perception here but like MSL said it, the process is more important than the result. And so far, it has not shown into concrete result, but we can see and back it with data that the process is going the right direction.

Have you considered that Wright and Nemec are simply not good enough for the NHL and that it has nothin to do with their team bringing them slowly? I am sure that they would be in the NHL if their team thought they could contribute, lets not kid ourselves.

Also, Jiricek and Cooley are nice prospect and players but at this point they are in the same spot as Slaf. Neither has shown more or have displayed things that others haven't. They all have a to breakout to another level.

And yes, KK the god tier mistake, ruined player who has been viciously mismanager is suddenly growing into his potential and he is becoming a very good top 6C. How odd is it? The single greatest mistake here was to draft him ahead of Tkachuk. The second was to let him go. Then we can talk about how he was managed.

 

[DAChampion]

It's a ridiculous lie that he exhibited a lack of Hockey IQ?

It's an inference. To me, it's obvious that fear and low confidence can mimic low IQ. It's not obvious how to tell them apart.

 

[SnapVirus]

One thing is clear. As things stand: Slaf is the worst 1st overall drafted player (stats wise) of the last 40 years.

Yakupov/Lafreniere who got shat on, showed better promises.

Slaf NEED to go to Ohl/Ahl. Right now, if we want to salvage his career.

 

[ReHabs]

It's an inference. To me, it's obvious that fear and low confidence can mimic low IQ. It's not obvious how to tell them apart.

I inferred low hockey IQ by looking at this D-0 stats. No one with "such" skills would have so much trouble producing against Liiga opponents. His inconsistency and his long dry spells, his inability to win steady TOI -- all pointed to the same direction. Someone that big and that supposedly skilled wouldn't be so bad at producing. Kotkaniemi, Bambi himself, produced more than Slaf in his D-0.

This was then... we don't need to go over it.

I summarized my impression with a simple catch-all term: playmaking or making plays. Slafkovsky was, and remains, not good at playmaking.

But, as predicted, his low hockey IQ was easily noticed by watching him play last year and this year. Many people have the same criticism but use slightly different terms: vision, timing, decision-making, processing speed, 'confidence', etc.

Since the problem predates his NHL presence, it is a far stretch to say it's the fear factor at play. The problem is between his ears.

 

[Lshap]

It's an inference. To me, it's obvious that fear and low confidence can mimic low IQ. It's not obvious how to tell them apart.

This is an iimportant nuance.

 

[ReHabs]

Have you considered that Wright and Nemec are simply not good enough for the NHL and that it has nothin to do with their team bringing them slowly? I am sure that they would be in the NHL if their team thought they could contribute, lets not kid ourselves.

Slaf was in the NHL last season and this year and was not productive or contributive.

What happened to patience? Wright and Nemec are developing and learning what they need to learn.

 

[BenchBrawl]

One thing is clear. As things stand: Slaf is the worst 1st overall drafted player (stats wise) of the last 40 years.

Yakupov/Lafreniere who got shat on, showed better promises.

Slaf NEED to go to Ohl/Ahl. Right now, if we want to salvage his career.

Yeah but that's irrelevant and meaningless.

We already knew that the top of the 2022 draft was the worst of the last 40 years BEFORE the draft.

 

[Jaynki]

Slaf was in the NHL last season and this year and was not productive or contributive.

What happened to patience? Wright and Nemec are developing and learning what they need to learn.

Slaf too. The truth is that no player from 2022 have broken out yet.

One thing is clear. As things stand: Slaf is the worst 1st overall drafted player (stats wise) of the last 40 years.

Yakupov/Lafreniere who got shat on, showed better promises.

Slaf NEED to go to Ohl/Ahl. Right now, if we want to salvage his career.

The example you state prove only one point : we should not extrapolate a career out of a player first few games.

That is and that is all.

 

[StCaufield]

He DOES see the ice well and makes good plays. It’s the timing and the speed of the game that he still has to adjust to.

Logan Cooley sees the ice well

Slaf too. The truth is that no player from 2022 have broken out yet.



The example you state prove only one point : we should not extrapolate a career out of a player first few games.

That is and that is all.

Slaf isn’t developing he’s just getting roasted in every way. I believe in him but my lord is he shitty right now. Go to the AHL. That why it exists….to develop players

 

[BenchBrawl]

People expecting us to draft a superstar in a draft that was widely known for... not having a superstar.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Timing is seeing and predicting player positions. That's what seeing the ice is.

Actually, Slafkovsky recently went to the optometrist and he has 20/20 vision, so he does in fact see the ice well. Checkmate.

 

[Jaynki]

Slaf isn’t developing he’s just getting roasted in every way. I believe in him but my lord is he shitty right now. Go to the AHL. That why it exists….to develop players

Well how do you explain that his puck touches have double per 60min? That he is 8th in the league for puck battle win? And that he is 1st in the team for scoring chance on the offensive cycle?

He is developing even if it has yet to show on the scoresheet.

Is he not shitty right now. He is inconsistent. He is disapointing relative to past 1st overall but that has nothing to do with the player, more about the circumstances. As much as he had bad sequences, we also had bribes of his potential and he did good things too.

The AHL is so overrated. Watch some games and see for yourself. Its not a development league. Most of the great players barely go there. If its not directly to the NHL, they stay 1-2 years in the CHL/NCAA/Europe and then makes the direct jump. Only a few players will have to go through the AHL before having a career and most of them ends up journeyman. Its for the Ylonen and RHP. Go look at every teams top players and tell me how many have been developed through the AHL. Thats such a Sylvain Lefebvre concept. Players are in the AHL when they are not good enough for the NHL thats it. Then they have to distinguish themselves there if they want to keep their career alive. The AHL is not the place where players go to improve, its where they go to see their career slowly fade and die in front of their eyes.

 

[Paddyjack]

I have no doubt Slaf can be a significant NHL player, but his decision making sucks right now. He lacks confidence when he has the puck. A stint in the AHL would help I'm quite sure. Why are we leaving Roy there if not Slaf?

 

[StCaufield]

Well how do you explain that his puck touches have double per 60min? That he is 8th in the league for puck battle win? And that he is 1st in the team for scoring chance on the offensive cycle?

He is developing even if it has yet to show on the scoresheet.

Is he not shitty right now. He is inconsistent. He is disapointing relative to past 1st overall but that has nothing to do with the player, more about the circumstances. As much as he had bad sequences, we also had bribes of his potential and he did good things too.

The AHL is so overrated. Watch some games and see for yourself. Its not a development league. Most of the great players barely go there. If its not directly to the NHL, they stay 1-2 years in the CHL/NCAA/Europe and then makes the direct jump. Only a few players will have to go through the AHL before having a career and most of them ends up journeyman. Its for the Ylonen and RHP. Go look at every teams top players and tell me how many have been developed through the AHL. Thats such a Sylvain Lefebvre concept. Players are in the AHL when they are not good enough for the NHL thats it. Then they have to distinguish themselves there if they want to keep their career alive. The AHL is not the place where players go to improve, its where they go to see their career slowly fade and die in front of their eyes.

Double the touches and double the disappointment. Inconsistent is one definition of shitty. His development other than a couple of passes hasn’t showed literally anything. Also the AHL is extremely useful. There’s thousands of players over the years that have benefited

 

[ReHabs]

Slaf too. The truth is that no player from 2022 have broken out yet.

And yet... many on your side of the argument insist that Slaf demonstrates something more than others simply because he's played XX NHL games so far and others have not. Now than many accept that he's not suitably developed since his awful season last year, the GP argument falls apart. So saying he's ahead of anyone in the draft by virtue of the wrong-headedness of Slaf is not exactly big praise of Slaf is it?

The example you state prove only one point : we should not extrapolate a career out of a player first few games.

That is and that is all.

Perfectly fair to say so -- we don't know what the future holds. A self-evident fact.

But we can also argue from induction: I haven't seen any player look like this in the NHL and still succeed with the same team (ie become an impact player). Have you?

 

[Jaynki]

Double the touches and double the disappointment. Inconsistent is one definition of shitty. His development other than a couple of passes hasn’t showed literally anything. Also the AHL is extremely useful. There’s thousands of players over the years that have benefited

It does not make for an healthy and fair debate if we can't acknowledge the good things he does too.

Personally i see this as a good things that he is way more involved in the play even if its too often goofy. It will (i hope!) improve and ultimately lead to good things.

MSL gave a pretty good interview to Bernier on this via lapresse.ca

 

[That Habs Fan]

It's hard to stomach the fact that if we had 1OA a year later we'd have Bedard instead of Slafkovsky...hell I'd even vastly prefer 2 or 3 from the next year (Fantilli/Carlsson)

I really hope Slaf figures it out, he should have played all of last year (and maybe even some of this year, depending) in Laval IMHO.

 

[SlafySZN]

Logan Cooley sees the ice well




Slaf isn’t developing he’s just getting roasted in every way. I believe in him but my lord is he shitty right now. Go to the AHL. That why it exists….to develop players

Have you seen Cooley play this season? I did, every game. He has his own things to get better at to be effective 5 on 5 as of now.

Slaf has great vision and is a great playmaker. He has to adjust his timing and to the speed of the game.

 

[Jaynki]

Perfectly fair to say so -- we don't know what the future holds. A self-evident fact.

But we can also argue from induction: I haven't seen any player look like this in the NHL and still succeed with the same team (ie become an impact player). Have you?

Yes, i have seen a boatload of player looking like turds in their first 50 games only to end up like major stars.

But you will go back to the pre-draft pedigree.

 

[waffledave]

It's an inference. To me, it's obvious that fear and low confidence can mimic low IQ. It's not obvious how to tell them apart.

He has played the same way before he made the NHL too. The difference is he played in a slower league that allowed him to have long puck possessions and take his time. His strength was also above his peers. In the NHL almost everyone is just as big and strong as him and they rush him, he doesn't know what to do anymore because the only thing he did well doesn't work anymore.

 

[Jaynki]

It's hard to stomach the fact that if we had 1OA a year later we'd have Bedard instead of Slafkovsky...hell I'd even vastly prefer 2 or 3 from the next year (Fantilli/Carlsson)

I really hope Slaf figures it out, he should have played all of last year (and maybe even some of this year, depending) in Laval IMHO.

If we had Bedard we would cry how he is not the generational talent he was advertised and that we have a too small team and if we had Fantilli we would whine with the stupid penalty he takes and his sometimes very pedestrian play.

Its not a Slafkovsky things, its a habs fan thing. And its a constant.

Caufield, Suzuki, Guhle were all bust at some point or the wrong pick/trade.