Well, when I dress a list, its all about long term projections, who I think is going to have the biggest impact down the road, not who will play in the NHL first or rack the most pts early on.
As we saw in the recent drafts with Jack Hughes, Byfield, Lafreniere, Power, Fantilli, Dach ect, some kids take a bit longer to adapt to the NHL, even Leo Carlsson skips games this year because of the buzy schedule and crazy traveling. So I had no real expectation about Slaf last year in term of points after spending his draft year playing in Liiga where the systems are quite different. Last year was an adaptation process to the new culture, new schedule, different system, more physical hockey, less time and space ect and all I wanted to see was improvement. I was fine with either AHL or NHL and as expected, he had his up and down showing some nice things, but some rawness too. Was playing with his head down too much, what caused him to get knocked down a couple of times, struggled to adjust to the lack of time and space of the league, what is perfectly normal in the circumstances, his boards work wasnt what it is right now, kid was exhausted at the end of his shifts and struggled to maintain a consistent effort level, what is different now after spending a good part of his off season training working on his cardio.
So the improvements are there and signifiant in comparison to last season, he looks more and more like the skilled PF I foresee in his draft year, its all a matter of translating those tools to the best league of the world and becoming the best version of himself at the end, what the coaching staff, Adam Nicholas and cie are working together to make sure he can achieve that potential.
Only thing I would like Slaf to do better right now would be his decision making around the net, right now he is still too hesitant and doesnt trust his shot enough. I think it will come as his confidence grows, but thats one point I would say he needs to get better, stop overthinking and convert those scoring chances.
