Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[Twisted Sinister]

Pure projection. Not everyone who is asking people to stop ripping this guy bleats and gloats as a matter of habit.

Yes, but there are a lot of them. And insults if you don't think the player is doing well. In the same way that constructive defenses of Slaf should be allowed to exist, constructive criticism should also be allowed to exist. There shouldn't be anyone asking people to "stop ripping on the guy." Just argue your point and, if you do it better than the other guy, you'll carry the day.

In the top half of best players tonight. A welcome sight after his concerning last couple of games with Anderson and Newhook.

I hope stating this this is not considered "bleating" or "gloating".

We'd need more than a one-game sample size. He's been bad for the majority of the games he's played over two seasons. Let's chill and see if he can put together a few more competent games where he doesn't make asinine decisions before we start planning the parade.

Yes, let's see more good things. In those games where he has played with Monahan, Dach or Suzuki, Slafkovsky looks like a real hockey player who keeps up and contributes, even at his young age.

No gloating, just rational observation.


Agreed. I'm for rebuilding, but not tanking.

Ideally, it is consistent building with the goal not being a short window of opportunity, but rather sustained competitveness with strong chances at contention in years not damaged by excessive injuries.

Besides, tanking is a low percentage strategy because the league is designed such that the reward for sucking is about one strong player per year, but if you suck, you are probably short 5 or 6 good players, maybe more.

It's interesting how the hyper positive Slaf defenders, particularly the bleating ones, were absent in this thread until he scored a goal. It's easy to have the courage of your convictions when something goes well. He'll need to follow up quite substantially to change my mind, since I've seen dumbass hockey sense through his entire oeuvre, both with the Habs and before.

As for rebuilding/tanking... 2022 and particularly 2023 were the years where I think we were going to be really bad to accrue top-end talent. Instead, we swung for the fences on a flawed mail-carrying unicorn with horrendous hockey sense hoping we could fix him and a respectably decent two-way defenseman at 5. Instead of working to attain that elite talent in 2023, they did everything to accrue useless points for the culture.

I think our window to draft top-end forwards that can actually put pucks in the net may be at an end. If Michkov turns out as good as he's looking and Reinbacher doesn't turn into Drew f***ing Doughty (which is highly unlikely imo), that might be a fireable offense by itself.

 

[Jaynki]

Its perfectly okay to get enlighted by Slaf good performance.

As dubious as his last 10 games have been and as dubious as the next 10 games may be(or not).

The thing is he is a 19 years old with a massive skillset and he is in his windows of maximum growth. He is in a spot in his career where growth and uptick in performance have the potential to be parabolic.

It is so short sighted to dismiss him after an ever shorter stretch than his international tournament.

It is one thing to raise concern. Its another one to label him a bust, to claim hard that he has no skills and that he is more of a 10OV pick in a normal draft. I think many, many people will burn themselves here. (Not talking about HfBoards member, we are irrelevant.) Im talking about guys like Scott Wheeler, Craig Buffon. In my opinion, Andre Tourigny has burned himself as a future coach for the Habs, he is such a PR nightmare, he missed a good opportunity to shut the f*** up.

For Slaf, i know its just finally one good game, but in his case, at his age, one good game where he excels is more significant than 4-5 games where he struggle because he is expected to grow massively, not stagnate. The process has to lead to more of the latter and less of the former.

Finally, im mad against me to have even considered lightly that maybe should have been in the AHL. I was always a defender to have him in the NHL last year. I still believe we did the right thing, i think the American League of Desespoir would the best way to ruin him and kill his motivation. Its so sad down there. There is this strange unfounded idea that playing in the NHL might jam his development.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Its perfectly okay to get enlighted by Slaf good performance.

As dubious as his last 10 games have been and as dubious as the next 10 games may be(or not).

The thing is he is a 19 years old with a massive skillset and he is in his windows of maximum growth. He is in a spot in his career where growth and uptick in performance have the potential to be parabolic.

It is so short sighted to dismiss him after an ever shorter stretch than his international tournament.

It is one thing to raise concern. Its another one to label him a bust, to claim hard that he has no skills and that he is more of a 10OV pick in a normal draft. I think many, many people will burn themselves here. (Not talking about HfBoards member, we are irrelevant.) Im talking about guys like Scott Wheeler, Craig Buffon. In my opinion, Andre Tourigny has burned himself as a future coach for the Habs, he is such a PR nightmare, he missed a good opportunity to shut the f*** up.

For Slaf, i know its just finally one good game, but in his case, at his age, one good game where he excels is more significant than 4-5 games where he struggle because he is expected to grow massively, not stagnate. The process has to lead to more of the latter and less of the former.

Finally, im mad against me to have even considered lightly that maybe should have been in the AHL. I was always a defender to have him in the NHL last year. I still believe we did the right thing, i think the American League of Desespoir would the best way to ruin him and kill his motivation. Its so sad down there. There is this strange unfounded idea that playing in the NHL might jam his development.

I feel like Slaf needs to play with better players in order to play his game, he looked great with Dach and he’s looked great with Suzuki-Caufield.

This is another “development” year for this team, I think we’d be wise to leave him with the Suzuki-Caufield duo for a bit and just see how he does.

 

[BLONG7]

So people can pick on every little things about his game when it’s negative it’s not too quick but him having a good game shouldn’t be highlighted too loudly?

In general life makes it easy to be negative...............and rarely are people positive, or pull the, about time card.

People need to go back to the initial draft day, he was selected, not for the player he is now, but the player they felt he would morph into.................that's sticking your neck out because they believe in MSL and how to help the kid.

Patience guys.............he shows glimpses of talent, and glimpses of nothing..........he's 19 folks.
Patience for the kid to develop into a good player, should also coincide with the Habs becoming a much better team.
Better days ahead....

 

[DarcyWakaluk]

Its perfectly okay to get enlighted by Slaf good performance.

As dubious as his last 10 games have been and as dubious as the next 10 games may be(or not).

The thing is he is a 19 years old with a massive skillset and he is in his windows of maximum growth. He is in a spot in his career where growth and uptick in performance have the potential to be parabolic.

It is so short sighted to dismiss him after an ever shorter stretch than his international tournament.

It is one thing to raise concern. Its another one to label him a bust, to claim hard that he has no skills and that he is more of a 10OV pick in a normal draft. I think many, many people will burn themselves here. (Not talking about HfBoards member, we are irrelevant.) Im talking about guys like Scott Wheeler, Craig Buffon. In my opinion, Andre Tourigny has burned himself as a future coach for the Habs, he is such a PR nightmare, he missed a good opportunity to shut the f*** up.

For Slaf, i know its just finally one good game, but in his case, at his age, one good game where he excels is more significant than 4-5 games where he struggle because he is expected to grow massively, not stagnate. The process has to lead to more of the latter and less of the former.

Finally, im mad against me to have even considered lightly that maybe should have been in the AHL. I was always a defender to have him in the NHL last year. I still believe we did the right thing, i think the American League of Desespoir would the best way to ruin him and kill his motivation. Its so sad down there. There is this strange unfounded idea that playing in the NHL might jam his development.

whats his 'skillset' ? after 2 years, i still cannot identify one major skill that he has above other players. and thats really concerning.

 

[Jaynki]

whats his 'skillset' ? after 2 years, i still cannot identify one major skill that he has above other players. and thats really concerning.

I will let the player speak for himself.

If you can't appreciate why he was picked 1st overall and if you can't identify what his skillset is than nothing i will say will make you see it.

So, let's wait and i would bet that at the end of the season, you will see and acknowledge it.

 

[Jaynki]

In general life makes it easy to be negative...............and rarely are people positive, or pull the, about time card.

People need to go back to the initial draft day, he was selected, not for the player he is now, but the player they felt he would morph into.................that's sticking your neck out because they believe in MSL and how to help the kid.

Patience guys.............he shows glimpses of talent, and glimpses of nothing..........he's 19 folks.
Patience for the kid to develop into a good player, should also coincide with the Habs becoming a much better team.
Better days ahead....

Agree.

For me tho, its not about having a positive or negative assumption of the situation but a moderate and realist one.

We are PTSD from our former top picks. We believe things like we are doomed because we had the 1st ov in the worst year. (Its starting to look like an excellent draft).

We then forget that those player at 19 years old have tremendous potential and that at this age, the uptick in performance is not slow, linear and incremental. It can totally be parabolic in a pretty short time. We have witnessed it with Caufield ourselves in his D+3.

If Slaf was in his D+4 i would be totally worried. But at the beginning of his D+2, the parabolic rise in performance is still very much in the card and singular performance like yesterday can be the beginning of his breakout.

 

[Naslundforever]

Yes, but there are a lot of them. And insults if you don't think the player is doing well. In the same way that constructive defenses of Slaf should be allowed to exist, constructive criticism should also be allowed to exist. There shouldn't be anyone asking people to "stop ripping on the guy." Just argue your point and, if you do it better than the other guy, you'll carry the day.


We'd need more than a one-game sample size. He's been bad for the majority of the games he's played over two seasons. Let's chill and see if he can put together a few more competent games where he doesn't make asinine decisions before we start planning the parade.



It's interesting how the hyper positive Slaf defenders, particularly the bleating ones, were absent in this thread until he scored a goal. It's easy to have the courage of your convictions when something goes well. He'll need to follow up quite substantially to change my mind, since I've seen dumbass hockey sense through his entire oeuvre, both with the Habs and before.

As for rebuilding/tanking... 2022 and particularly 2023 were the years where I think we were going to be really bad to accrue top-end talent. Instead, we swung for the fences on a flawed mail-carrying unicorn with horrendous hockey sense hoping we could fix him and a respectably decent two-way defenseman at 5. Instead of working to attain that elite talent in 2023, they did everything to accrue useless points for the culture.

I think our window to draft top-end forwards that can actually put pucks in the net may be at an end. If Michkov turns out as good as he's looking and Reinbacher doesn't turn into Drew f***ing Doughty (which is highly unlikely imo), that might be a fireable offense by itself.

I would have avoided Michkov no matter the other prospects. Not even the first russian drafted; I bet he never even sniffs the nhl.

As for Slaf, I wanted him at that draft, and I call out what I see as it goes. He looked to have improved his first 2-3 games, then looked completely lost and overwhelmed for the rest until last night where he looked like a good 19 year old prospect again. Sorry to not come at this talking in absolutes or categorically.

 

[BLONG7]

Agree.

For me tho, its not about having a positive or negative assumption of the situation but a moderate and realist one.

We are PTSD from our former top picks. We believe things like we are doomed because we had the 1st ov in the worst year. (Its starting to look like an excellent draft).

We then forget that those player at 19 years old have tremendous potential and that at this age, the uptick in performance is not slow, linear and incremental. It can totally be parabolic in a pretty short time. We have witnessed it with Caufield ourselves in his D+3.

If Slaf was in his D+4 i would be totally worried. But at the beginning of his D+2, the parabolic rise in performance is still very much in the card and singular performance like yesterday can be the beginning of his breakout.

The kid has played, 50-51 games...............smaller ice surface, and faster players.
We need some more time it's just that simple.
We did not have a chance to draft Crosby, or McDavid................sad but true.

 

[DarcyWakaluk]

I will let the player speak for himself.

If you can't appreciate why he was picked 1st overall and if you can't identify what his skillset is than nothing i will say will make you see it.

So, let's wait and i would bet that at the end of the season, you will see and acknowledge it.

Speed: Average
Acceleration: Average
Shot Good but not exceptional for NHL standards
Hands/Stickhandling: Average
Passing abilities: Average
Physicality: almost inexistent
Hockey IQ: Average
One on one battles: below average


I mean, usually Top 3 OA picks have at least one big dominant skill compare to other players in their draft year. I dont see any in Slaf.

 

[Skip Bayless]

What are you saying? Our #1 pick needs to be carried? Is he a bigger Anderson?

Well if they plan on developing him in the NHL, he does need to get carried until he can do the carrying. Otherwise, he’ll drown.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

Speed: Average
Acceleration: Average
Shot Good but not exceptional for NHL standards
Hands/Stickhandling: Average
Passing abilities: Average
Physicality: almost inexistent
Hockey IQ: Average
One on one battles: below average


I mean, usually Top 3 OA picks have at least one big dominant skill compare to other players in their draft year. I dont see any in Slaf.

So, he's got nothing elite? for a first overall pic, you need at least 2 elite in the skillset.

 

[DarcyWakaluk]

So, he's got nothing elite? for a first overall pic, you need at least 2 elite in the skillset.

well maybe you see it, but i dont see any elite skillset in his toolbox, u tell me.

 

[Jaynki]

Speed: Average
Acceleration: Average
Shot Good but not exceptional for NHL standards
Hands/Stickhandling: Average
Passing abilities: Average
Physicality: almost inexistent
Hockey IQ: Average
One on one battles: below average


I mean, usually Top 3 OA picks have at least one big dominant skill compare to other players in their draft year. I dont see any in Slaf.

His speed burst is 95 percentile according to NHL Edge data. He is one of the most powerful and explosive skater in the league.

He was 8th in the league for puck battle won but that is from 1 week ago.

I would argue his dominant skill is strenght, derived from his size. It upgrades every other skill. It render his skating powerful, his shot heavy, is puck protection annoying for the opposition. We have not seen it in a consistent manner in the NHL but it was very apparent in his DY in his international performance.

 

[DarcyWakaluk]

''He was 8th in the league for puck battle won''

please stop with that stupid stat that u keep repeating since 3 weeks. this stat was after 2 games in the season, that not the case anymore.

 

[sandviper]

this dude is awkward as f***, even on his goal, looks so awkward, like someone who started hockey late in their life awkward stickhandling and to the guy saying its ok to get "enlightened on slaf" lol what a joke, the dude got a goal on the power play gtfo

Good morning.

 

[RationalExpectations]

His production in Liiga at 17 was not that low, and improved as the season went on, but his season was made up of much more than Liiga. If he wasn't a consensus #1 because consensus requires 80% agreement, then he was a consensus Top-2.

The scouts are not the issue. The issue is that the team has a different vision about how to develop him than most of the fans do.

It was quite low for a top 10 pick by any account : he was scoring at a 0.3 PPG, while Kemell was 0.6. KK was 0.5. Kakko was 0.8. Laine 0.7, Pulju 0.5.Aho close to 0.5 too.

I am not saying he was not consensus 1OA, merely stating a fact.

 

[ReHabs]

Finally, im mad against me to have even considered lightly that maybe should have been in the AHL. I was always a defender to have him in the NHL last year. I still believe we did the right thing, i think the American League of Desespoir would the best way to ruin him and kill his motivation. Its so sad down there. There is this strange unfounded idea that playing in the NHL might jam his development.

Did time in the AHL hurt Rantanen?

It’s too late to compare Slafkovsky with Rantanen, but it’s worth asking why a single goal in a 6-3 loss allows you room to flip-flop a basic premise: players not sufficiently prepared for the toughest league of the sport shouldn’t be playing in it.

It was quite low for a top 10 pick by any account : he was scoring at a 0.3 PPG, while Kemell was 0.6. KK was 0.5. Kakko was 0.8. Laine 0.7, Pulju 0.5.Aho close to 0.5 too.

I am not saying he was not consensus 1OA, merely stating a fact.

He was not consensus 1OA. The word consensus has a very clear meaning.

 

[nhlfan9191]

His speed burst is 95 percentile according to NHL Edge data. He is one of the most powerful and explosive skater in the league.

He was 8th in the league for puck battle won but that is from 1 week ago.

I would argue his dominant skill is strenght, derived from his size. It upgrades every other skill. It render his skating powerful, his shot heavy, is puck protection annoying for the opposition. We have not seen it in a consistent manner in the NHL but it was very apparent in his DY in his international performance.

All those things you mentioned are very nice but we’ve rarely seen them if at all. The one thing I have seen is he has the potential to be quite explosive, but he doesn’t look comfortable enough to really take advantage of that. What is he supposed to be? Watching just his NHL play, it’s like he’s going threw an identity crisis. Is he a playmaker, a power forward, a goal scorer? It’s like he doesn’t know himself what he wants to be.

 

[NORiculous]

Its another one to label him a bust, to claim hard that he has no skills and that he is more of a 10OV pick in a normal draft. I think many, many people will burn themselves here. (Not talking about HfBoards member, we are irrelevant.) Im talking about guys like Scott Wheeler, Craig Buffon. In my opinion, Andre Tourigny has burned himself as a future coach for the Habs, he is such a PR nightmare, he missed a good opportunity to shut the f*** up.

We can see your frustration but none of them said he had no skill or was a bust. They said he wasn’t ready for the NHL and he should be learning in the AHL. Major difference.

 

[RationalExpectations]

He was not consensus 1OA. The word consensus has a very clear meaning.

Well I know you and I did not have him there but the McKenzie poll is the closest thing we have to a scout consensus and it said Slaf was the 1OA for a majority of scouts. And if we look for other rankings he was a top 3 pick everywhere.

 

[Jaynki]

''He was 8th in the league for puck battle won''

please stop with that stupid stat that u keep repeating since 3 weeks. this stat was after 2 games in the season, that not the case anymore.

Well ok then, Slaf has fooled the entire hockey world. You are right, he has no skills.

Are you one of those who is higher on Josh Roy than Slaf?

Because if you want to argue that Slaf has no skills and that Roy has that tremendous top 6 potential.

I just want to point it you that you have it backward.

If you want to look like the most intelligent man in the room, betting like this against the 1st overall pick, like he has no skill and he is a sure bust after 50 games might just actually yield the opposite effect.

We can see your frustration but none of them said he had no skill or was a bust. They said he wasn’t ready for the NHL and he should be learning in the AHL. Major difference.

I have no frustration.

That is a fair debate.

But Tourigny should not speak about our organisation like that and the problem is that its not an isolated incident. He is a lot on the quebec trash radio speaking too comfortably, he is so f***ing dumb.

 

[Jaynki]

All those things you mentioned are very nice but we’ve rarely seen them if at all. The one thing I have seen is he has the potential to be quite explosive, but he doesn’t look comfortable enough to really take advantage of that. What is he supposed to be? Watching just his NHL play, it’s like he’s going threw an identity crisis. Is he a playmaker, a power forward, a goal scorer? It’s like he doesn’t know himself what he wants to be.

We have seen them sparsely. He displayed a high level of skills at times mixed with goofyness and being lost and at times slow.

That is part of the learning process. He is a 19 years old with 50 games and he is in his window of maximum growth.

I mean, its possible he stagnate and bust. But that would be the anamoly, the outlier.

The odds are that he evolves, mature and show parabolic growth.

He is not going into any crisis. He is learning the NA games, pace, positioning.

 

[DarcyWakaluk]

Well ok then, Slaf has fooled the entire hockey world. You are right, he has no skills.

Are you one of those who is higher on Josh Roy than Slaf?

Because if you want to argue that Slaf has no skills and that Roy has that tremendous top 6 potential.

I just want to point it you that you have it backward.

If you want to look like the most intelligent man in the room, betting like this against the 1st overall pick, like he has no skill and he is a sure bust after 50 games might just actually yield the opposite effect.



I have no frustration.

That is a fair debate.

Many are arguing he has no skills. DarcyWakaluk, cave trolls and there is plenty others.

I'm not saying he has no skills, im saying he doesnt have any one major dominant skill, which is concerning to say at least.

I'm not saying Roy will be a star in the NHL, but at least he's showing some dominant skillset compare to Slaf (hockey IQ, passing ability, event his shot is better). so that give us some hope for him, but for Slaf, everything is 'meh'

 

[SlafySZN]

Forget about his good game yesterday and what he showed, what about the Liiga stats?