Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[Kennedys]

He’s a bad hockey player presently. Among the worst and most ineffective players on one of the weaker teams in the NHL.

He brings nothing of what a prized draft pick should bring. He demonstrates no special ability, no poise, no guile, no unique factor.

18/19 year olds have been named captain of their teams (eg Landeskog), Slafkovsky is outplayed and outworked by Tanner Pearson.

This pick has majorly derailed our rebuild and I’m tired of having to couch my words to protect the feelings of the Kent Hughes Can Do No Wrong crowd. Rookie GM burns the high draft pick he’s inherited and stubbornly mismanages him is a very familiar story — we should all know better.

Slafkovsky is significantly behind Galchenyuk too at the same age, that’s the sickest part of this. Of the topX picks we’ve had in the last twenty years he’s the worst one.

I think we should just admit it was a pick in a bad draft and forget about it.

 

[RationalExpectations]

I think we should just admit it was a pick in a bad draft and forget about it.

Maybe it was the wrong pick in a normal draft or maybe it will end up a good pick in a good draft.

Too easy to dismiss 220 prospects just to justify management failure.

 

[nhlfan9191]

I think we should just admit it was a pick in a bad draft and forget about it.

It’s going to ne hard to just forget about this draft. Especially if any combination of Cooley, Nemec, Jiricek, Wright pan out. A lot of fans had either some or all of those players above him at the time of the draft so it would be a hard pill to swallow if we end up with not only the inferior player, but nothing at all. That said, with each passing game it should be becoming much more obvious to the coaches that something needs to be done with him. He’s drowning out there.

 

[RationalExpectations]

He’s a bad hockey player presently. Among the worst and most ineffective players on one of the weaker teams in the NHL.

He brings nothing of what a prized draft pick should bring. He demonstrates no special ability, no poise, no guile, no unique factor.

18/19 year olds have been named captain of their teams (eg Landeskog), Slafkovsky is outplayed and outworked by Tanner Pearson.

This pick has majorly derailed our rebuild and I’m tired of having to couch my words to protect the feelings of the Kent Hughes Can Do No Wrong crowd. Rookie GM burns the high draft pick he’s inherited and stubbornly mismanages him is a very familiar story — we should all know better.

Slafkovsky is significantly behind Galchenyuk too at the same age, that’s the sickest part of this. Of the topX picks we’ve had in the last twenty years he’s the worst one.

Let s see what he becomes, it is too early to say. He looked good in the first few games but over past ones he has been getting worse.

From my perspective the 2022 draft documentary revealed massive disfunctions in their ability to draft. A scout saying I am ok to take a guy 1OA because he is big so that we don t have to worry about size later is already having a stupid take. But if management thinks it is a good idea to put that sentence in a documentary it shows incompetence across the board

 

[ReHabs]

I think we should just admit it was a pick in a bad draft and forget about it.

I think it was just a bad pick and a bad prospect, I don't buy that it was a bad draft. I'm sure the four or so other teams are perfectly happy with their picks so far.

What's most disheartening is that I cannot even predict Slaf would be good in the AHL. He shows nothing. I try not to smash the player too much -- he is a teenager in above his head -- but he shows no redeeming qualities at all. This is true as much as we all want it to be false. He skates well for a big guy, that's it. He couldn't produce in Liiga and there was never any proper explanation for it, why would a player this big and solid be so incapable of putting up points? Even Kotkaniemi put up points in his D-0 Liiga season. Slaf produced well in those three tournaments but they're clearly less indicative of future success than league play and this is yet another case.

Something is seriously flawed with this player's profile.

If Slaf was playing elsewhere and only called up when he showed he could be a legitimate NHL top6 player, we'd be perfectly happy right now too. Maybe if he was struggling big time we'd have some concerned negative types like myself crowing about him but the timeline wouldn't feel so rushed and compressed. This wrong pick is derailing our rebuild.

Maybe in three years all of this struggle will amount to something but from now until then a lot of things can go wrong -- he's already suffered a very bad knee injury, what other damage will he pick up on this route?

He's not improved much at all since last year. I don't buy the fake stats that say he's got more scoring chances than shots on net, those are clearly junk stats. We don't need stats or fancy stats to see he is not playing well.

Do we realize just how much he has to improve before he's a noteworthy player? It's a tall order even for skilled players, much less this guy who has no discernable ability to make plays whatsoever.

 

[ReHabs]

In my honest opinion i think Slaf is showcasing signs of someone who's not taking care of himself outside the rink.

I see a net decline in his cognitive abilities on the ice from last year.

Is he suffering from "partying too much" disorder? He does look like a bit lost sometimes

His stamina, his breathing, his vision, his passing, his shooting, his positioning, his tracking, his board battles, his confidence, his focus. It seems like everything except his skating is either critically flawed or ineffective. What's going on?!

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

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.

Only in Montreal where you pick a 1st OA to gamble it , like they took a gamble on Michkov oh wait

 

[BehindTheTimes]

When will Slaf record his 2nd point? Funny, how things have changed since game 1 where some were throwing a victory party

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

When will Slaf record his 2nd point? Funny, how things have changed since game 1 where sone were throwing a victory party

Probably friday against Arizona and Cooley after he gets 2 points then people are gonna be like ''told you slaf is nhl ready and Cooley is overrated''

Then he will dissapear like Armia once he scores then we are gonna restart the same process over and over for the rest of the season.

 

[River Meadow]

Only in Montreal where you pick a 1st OA to gamble it , like they took a gamble on Michkov oh wait

Montreal only gambles if the player has CHaracter of course.

 

[River Meadow]

Let s see what he becomes, it is too early to say. He looked good in the first few games but over past ones he has been getting worse.

From my perspective the 2022 draft documentary revealed massive disfunctions in their ability to draft. A scout saying I am ok to take a guy 1OA because he is big so that we don t have to worry about size later is already having a stupid take. But if management thinks it is a good idea to put that sentence in a documentary it shows incompetence across the board

Seriously.

Do they think it's 1995 or something?

IQ & skill > above all else, period, in 2023.

If they thought Cooley was much more skilled and a much higher IQ (maybe they didn't) then he should have been the pick.

I mean, there's soo many uber skilled small forwards... just look at the Lightning championship teams of late. Come on....

Perhaps they thought Slafkowsky does possess high IQ and skill... maybe he does and we just haven't seen it yet.. or.... just maybe....... they screwed the p()()ch on this pick, they sh@t the bed... they... well, you get it....

We shall see.

 

[Toene]

I'm starting to think that I might not have magical powers after all.

It's because you jinxed yourself when you mentioned them. Just use them, don't talk about it.

 

[cave troll]

Did he make some passes in Vegas which weren't converted in easy goals?

 

[Hannibal]

You guys are unbearable.

Toxic fans.

 

[River Meadow]

You guys are unbearable.

Toxic fans.

Honest* fans.

 

[Hoochi Papa]

Solid sophomore season continues. His development is astonishingly similar to Florida's Barkov who produced less points early in his career. They wanted him to be defensively sound and now they're reaping the benefits for being patient.

If Montreal is in fact building a Selke-level two-way monster, we might have our own Mark Stone in Eric Lindros' body. There are no limits of what he can and will be. Once Dvorak comes back to mentor Slafkovsky how to combine top-6 point production with elite defensive traits, our guy could really take off. Wouldn't be surprised if same breakthrough that happened with Caufield is on the books.

Let Juraj cook!

 

[RationalExpectations]

You guys are unbearable.

Toxic fans.

Toxicity argument is weak. It has been repeated every time there is a little but of criticism towards a given player. Those guys are paid millions to show their skills, we have the right to comment on them.

Nobody is insulting himhere.

 

[Hostile Offer]

It's no excuse as Slaf is not creating a lot of scoring chances for either himself or his teammates which he is expected to do but I really do think that Dach going down has created a hole we can't fix and things would look a lot different offensively for Slaf and all the other forwards had he stayed healthy.

 

[Habs Halifax]

It's no excuse as Slaf is not creating a lot of scoring chances for either himself or his teammates which he is expected to do but I really do think that Dach going down has created a hole we can't fix and things would look a lot different offensively for Slaf and all the other forwards had he stayed healthy.

Why is he expected too? Because he is a not really a 1st OA pick that we rushed to the NHL?

We all would prefer to see a break out season but it's just not in the cards. This is going to be another KK situation where we have to remain patient. He's learning on the job in the NHL. It would have not been my decision but it is what it is today. Best to let him fly under the radar but that is impossible in Montreal.

I wish he had a bit more confidence with the puck on his stick. He's not looking to shoot and he's looking to pass as the primary objective. That's due to his limited time/space and he knows he has to act quick. I also wish he would hold onto it a bit more in some cases. It's tricky with him, he needs to get stronger and fill into his frame but he also has to be a strong skater to create that time/space

The overall confidence is just not there yet and the sample size we have seen indicates its going to take a while.

 

[Hannibal]

Honest* fans.

Whatever that makes you happy at night.

But it tells me alot about you as a fan when i read you about a 19 years old prospect who haven’t played 50 games yet lol.

 

[le_sean]

Again, I don’t want to blame the best player on the line, but what exactly does Newhook do for them? He kind of just skates fast like a headless chicken. The style doesn’t fit whatsoever as the centre of that line since you also have Anderson who does that same thing but worse. You need a big possession centre who slows the game down to be the general for Slaf and Andy, who need direction. Like Dach. Like Monahan.

 

[Wats]

One of the more concerning things to me is he is unable to get shots through. Maybe if Roy continues to dominate AHL, they can swap places.

 

[Shawnathon]

Why is he expected too? Because he is a not really a 1st OA pick that we rushed to the NHL?

We all would prefer to see a break out season but it's just not in the cards. This is going to be another KK situation where we have to remain patient. He's learning on the job in the NHL. It would have not been my decision but it is what it is today. Best to let him fly under the radar but that is impossible in Montreal.

I wish he had a bit more confidence with the puck on his stick. He's not looking to shoot and he's looking to pass as the primary objective. That's due to his limited time/space and he knows he has to act quick. I also wish he would hold onto it a bit more in some cases. It's tricky with him, he needs to get stronger and fill into his frame but he also has to be a strong skater to create that time/space

The overall confidence is just not there yet and the sample size we have seen indicates its going to take a while.

Fill into his frame? This dude has been 230+ for a few years now. He should have enough man strength to hang with anyone being that size even if he’s 19. It looks like he’s afraid of physical contact which makes the big frame everyone praises him for useless.

 

[jellybeans]

Project at number #1? Yikes! Maybe outside top 10. Cooley was always the easy pick at 1. This is why I should be a scout and not those idiots we hire.

Funny i wasn't hearing Cooley's name much before the draft so easy to pick the right player 2 years after the draft.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Fill into his frame? This dude has been 230+ for a few years now. He should have enough man strength to hang with anyone being that size even if he’s 19. It looks like he’s afraid of physical contact which makes the big frame everyone praises him for useless.

Nah... He will fill in a bit more and get stronger. Look at Dach's development. Slaf actually lost weight last year and he's working on lean muscle that doesn't slow him down with skating. This will all make more sense to you in a few years.

He got hit a few times last year that he didn't expect. He's learning that time/space factor as a big player and there is still some hesitation