Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[River Meadow]

The kid is 19. And was playing in the NHL and scoring when he was 18. Anyone who was writing this kid off was expressing unreasonable impatience.

"Scoring"

 

[ChesterNimitz]

"Scoring"

View attachment 773022

He scored more goals and points than the rest of his draft class combined. But for his string of injuries he would have scored more.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

It’s impatience.

It’s a difference of opinion. And honestly, there was good reason before to think he should be in the minors. Now? Not so much.

And it especially doesn’t make sense to do it now that he’s playing the best hockey of his young career.

 

[River Meadow]

He scored more goals and points than the rest of his drafr class combined. But for his string of injuries would have scored more.

"He scored more goals and points than the rest of his draft class"

Gee, I wonder why that may be...

It could be because he's one of the only players from that draft class to be thrust into the NHL right away....

It’s a difference of opinion. And honestly, there was good reason before to think he should be in the minors. Now? Not so much.

And it especially doesn’t make sense to do it now that he’s playing the best hockey of his young career.

This.

We're all happy he's playing better. It's what we all wanted to see.

It's odd to make the insinuation that some are, to say he's been playing well all along, and we just didn't see it. No, he's had some baaaaaaad games...

 

[Heffyhoof]

By manipulating statistics, Slafkovsky now has 1 point in his first 10 games, and 5 in his last 10 game. For the fortune tellers who know how to predict the future of young players with tiny samples, which ten game sample should we use?

 

[salwan]

By manipulating statistics, Slafkovsky now has 1 point in his first 10 games, and 5 in his last 10 game. For the fortune tellers who know how to predict the future of young players with tiny samples, which ten game sample should we use?

If he can put up 0.5ppg for the remainder of the season (~60 games), that would bring his point total to a very healthy ~35 points, which I think anyone here would have happily taken before the season.

But even if he ends up somewhere between 25-30 points, the reps and having a full nhl season under his belt will do him wonders

 

[Miller Time]

Completely disagree.

Personally I think last year he shouldn’t have been in the NHL. And he got off to a bad start this year.

A big part of that is usage but posters can only go based on what they see. It’s really only since being moved up that I’ve felt he looks like he really belongs here.

So, no I don’t think it was silly of posters to think that at all. You can only go with what you’ve seen. Personally I think it would be a real mistake to move a player down when he’s playing his best hockey. Glad we’ve moved him up and hope he stays here. But I don’t think posters were crazy for thinking he should start in the AHL. It made good sense to argue that way, esp with Dach going down and Slaf struggling early on.

Nope.

The belief that Slaf should spend the whole season out of the NHL was a bad take at/after camp & preseason, and completely ridiculous now.

Bad takes are bade takes.

 

[Miller Time]

There’s probably very little posters that believe he can’t play in the NHL under any capacity. The debate usually centres on if his offensive game will progress more in a slower or faster game.

The poll is pretty direct.

183 voted that they preferred he spend the entire season in AHL

Bad take that at this point is demonstrably false/wrong.

 

[ReHabs]

This.

We're all happy he's playing better. It's what we all wanted to see.

It's odd to make the insinuation that some are, to say he's been playing well all along, and we just didn't see it. No, he's had some baaaaaaad games...

Well said. I was happy when he had his hot streak with Monahan last year and I’m happy to have seen him play well-enough last night. It’s good to see growth even if it is incremental.

I think improving his playmaking is the more important aspect over learning to use his size but he’s definitely improving the latter and that will help his growth overall too.

If he can put up 0.5ppg for the remainder of the season (~60 games), that would bring his point total to a very healthy ~35 points, which I think anyone here would have happily taken before the season.

35pts would be great given his dry start. I think it’s more fair to expect 30ish.

 

[ReHabs]

Nope.

The belief that Slaf should spend the whole season out of the NHL was a bad take at/after camp & preseason, and completely ridiculous now.

Bad takes are bade takes.

Goalpost moving

Those who wanted him in the AHL clearly universally would want him promoted to the NHL should he had outperformed expectations.

Those who wanted him in Europe felt that if it is good enough for Reinbacher it’s good enough for Slafkovsky. That is — it wouldn’t hurt him to learn to use his body in a less intense league. Big players develop slower, after all. Patience is required.

Those who wanted him in the NHL aren’t wrong, it’s just a difference of opinion. If he turns out badly, or never really peaks, this cohort won’t blame the fact that he was rushed. So it’s no-lose for those who defer to the current Habs GM. The least you could do is to stop trying to gloat about something that isn’t even finished.

 

[Jaynki]

So are we finally liking Bobrov a bit more?

Because it rapidly looks like it would have been a catastrophe to miss on Slaf.

Apart from.secondary pp assist, Cooley is not even close to have his overall twoway and physical impact.

The rest are AHLers.

He is carrying the mail.

 

[jaffy27]

"Scoring"

View attachment 773022

Look at Jack Hughes stat line after the same amount of games and it’s pretty close.

He’s not gonna produce like McDavid so let’s temper expectations. Steady progression ( which is what we are witnessing) is the best outcome we can hope for.

You can see his game stepping up, he’s slowly starting to figure it out and when the confidence is up there with the speed of the game….let’s just say it will be fun to watch.

And what do we make of Struble???

MA PAROLE….now there’s confidence if ive ever seen it….kid got game, not just pecs!!!

 

[Lshap]

So are we finally liking Bobrov a bit more?

Because it rapidly looks like it would have been a catastrophe to miss on Slaf.

Apart from.secondary pp assist, Cooley is not even close to have his overall twoway and physical impact.

The rest are AHLers.

He is carrying the mail.

It was too soon to call Slafkovsky a bust after 40 weak games. It's too soon to say he's 'carrying the mail' (that's a good thing, right?) after ~12 strong games.

We'll need at least another two years to judge Bobrov's crucial picks during our tank years.

 

[waitin425]

Those that wanted him in the AHL can never be wrong and never be right. That hypothesis will never be tested and forever will be an unknown.

We should really just move on from the argument. He belongs in the NHL. He is never going down. Let's just enjoy his progression....together...like family.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Those that wanted him in the AHL can never be wrong and never be right. That hypothesis will never be tested and forever will be an unknown.

We should really just move on from the argument. He belongs in the NHL. He is never going down. Let's just enjoy his progression....together...like family.

You don’t know my family.

 

[BaseballCoach]

It's because he looked terrible with no real redeeming qualities or outstanding skills except for some decent passes few and far between, as well as his HYOOGE size.

So how is it that more scouts had Slaf as first overall than any other player?

How is it that many NHL evaluators and many fans saw lots of good qualities?

What thoughts informed the fans who repeated this "no skills" meme ad nauseum? I believe it is frustration with the Habs weak performance for so many years, and a kind of belief that we are just not destined to have nice things in any way, ever.

 

[BaseballCoach]

By manipulating statistics, Slafkovsky now has 1 point in his first 10 games, and 5 in his last 10 game. For the fortune tellers who know how to predict the future of young players with tiny samples, which ten game sample should we use?

I would lean SLIGHTLY to the recent ten games. Something like expecting 0.35 points per game for the next 20 games, and maybe 0.375 ppg the final 40 games. Finish with 28 points or so.

But next year, if we have Dach and Suzuki both healthy, I can see him getting 40-50 points, closer to 50 if he gets on to the PP1.

 

[Simarino]

You can see the game is slowing down for him and he's being proactive instead of reactive, his board play has come a long way too.

Progress

I remember listening to Aaron Ward on Tsn Radio last year. He was saying that it took him half a season getting confortable on the Europe bigger ice when he went there during NHL strike. He was a 10yrs Nhl vet going to a weaker league, can you imagine how hard the transition is for an 18yrs old kid going to a wayy better and faster league on a smaller rink!!

 

[morhilane]

It took Dach until last year to realize “holy shit I’m big” when I think Gudas went to hit him and Gudas fell. Then it just clicked and he started playing like a force.

Not sure what moment happened to Slaf recently, but it’s like he’s finally starting to realize exactly how big he is. I can’t wait to see him at 22-23 years old when he’s fully coordinated and filled out.

I actually think he always knew he was big, he got suspended last year for it basically. His size/speed combo was dangerous with his poor awareness/game going too fast for him so I think he was holding back.

Until his brain mostly caught up to the NHL speed which is what has been happening in the last 5-10ish games. Now he can read the play faster and started to anticipate. This increased his confidence. Which leads to him being able do his things on a much regular basis. And since then, he's been testing the physical part of his game and as he gets more comfortable with it, he's doing it more. And his scanning/awareness are getting better too, he's not just anticipating, he's starting to think a few move ahead of the game (still a work in-progress though).

Still some issues with coordination vs speed/space, that will come with more reps/off-ice training, the gap doesn't look that big.

But the main thing is that since his brain mostly caught up with the NHL speed, he's able to execute much more regularly and he looks like he leveled up a few times now.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

That’s perfectly fine to say and think but it can’t be that Hughes is better than Bergevin but also we cannot criticize Hughes for any decision because it is too early. If it is too early to criticize Hughes’ decisions or pass a judgement on his work thus far then it is also too early to say he’s better than anybody.

He’s already made moves that MB wasn’t capable of doing over a decade. I don’t think MSL is a great coach, but for the youth on this team he’s a good fit. Michel Therrien was who MB brought in at first chance.

 

[HomaridII]

an 18 year old european kid gets drafted no.1 overall by the biggest franchise in hockey (SOrry Toronto but its true) having never played in a North American rink. I say he is doing quite fine.

He wasn't sent to the AHL because they wanted Marty and Nichols to be with him and not Houle and whomever. Read Slaf's quote last night about how much Marty sits with him 1-1 to watch tape. The board work we say its improving its exactly what they have been focusing on while watching tape, he mentioned it last night. He is a project but I wouldn't want to be the rest of the NHL when he is 22-23. He is huge, has speed, hands, brains and the right attitude. He will be a beast and we will all look like fools for doubting it. Thank god he was drafted into a rebuilding team.

 

[Frank Drebin]

So are we finally liking Bobrov a bit more?

Because it rapidly looks like it would have been a catastrophe to miss on Slaf.

Apart from.secondary pp assist, Cooley is not even close to have his overall twoway and physical impact.

The rest are AHLers.

He is carrying the mail.

I don't think I'll ever like bobrov after watching that pre draft video, not even if slaf turns into jagr 2.0

 

[Gustave]

So are we finally liking Bobrov a bit more?

Because it rapidly looks like it would have been a catastrophe to miss on Slaf.

Apart from.secondary pp assist, Cooley is not even close to have his overall twoway and physical impact.

The rest are AHLers.

He is carrying the mail.

I'll not "never" like Bobrov, but I'm not a fan. That's for sure.

I don't like Timmins either, but his picks are blossoming a bit here, considering Caufield, Struble, Harris, Prims, Mailloux, Roy, Kidney, etc. I don't know what will come of them yet but it's more than what he brought from the previous 5 years of his tenure. Prior to the "darts" period if, you will But It won't make me like him.

Bobrov is my one true question mark of the new regime.

You don’t know my family.

No way it's THAT bad

 

[x-bob]

I think the most important thing is that we are seeing notable progression. He has been strong on the boards, winning puck battles and making nice offensive plays the last 5-6 games and it’s starting to translate in points. I just finished watching yesterday’s game and he was our best forward.

I’m still not convinced that he will become what he was drafted to become but he at least is starting to show flashes. I didn't see any real flashes last year.

 

[pepperMonkey]

You don't evaluate the performance of a stock portfolio by isolating the performance of a specific stock in Q1.

I'm sorry but of course you do. You check your stocks earnings report every Q earnings report to see if your narrative (for buying the stock) has changed. Sure, usually, like 90-99% off the time, you don't see anything major but those rare,few times you do see the writing on the wall that you need to GTFO or even possibly back up the truck and go all in.