Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[DAChampion]

When did Slaf dominate any league, ever?

A few stats from long ago:

Juraj Slafkovský at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Juraj Slafkovský, 2004-03-30 Kosice, SVK Slovakia. Most recently in the NHL with Montréal Canadiens. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Jaynki]

When did Slaf dominate any league, ever?

May i refer to the post above

 

[ReHabs]

A few stats from long ago:

Juraj Slafkovský at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Juraj Slafkovský, 2004-03-30 Kosice, SVK Slovakia. Most recently in the NHL with Montréal Canadiens. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

May i refer to the post above

So, in which league/season did he dominate?

Note: N/A means not in the top100

Year	League/Division	Points	PPG
2017-2018	Slovakia u16s	6th	c. 7th
	Slovakia u18s	N/A	71st
2018-2019	RB Hockey Ac.	N/A	43rd
	Czechia u16s	54th	13th
	Czechia u19s	N/A	N/A
2019-2020	Finland u16s	N/A	38th
	Finland u18s	12th	35th
	Finland u20s	N/A	N/A
2020-2021	Finland u18s	N/A	8th (2pts in 1gp)
	Finland u20s	N/A	90th
2021-2022	Finland u20s	N/A	11th
	Finland Liiga	N/A	N/A

Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing? In which league has he ever dominated in his life?

 

[Don D]

Found this interesting in-depth scouting report of Slaf from late 2021-early 2022. Very fair assessment.

Scouting Report: Juraj Slafkovsky - Smaht Scouting

Smaht Scouting's Josh Tessler takes an in-depth look at 2022 NHL Draft prospect Juraj Slafkovsky (LW, TPS).

smahtscouting.com

Some takeaways:
"Where Slafkovsky shines the most is on the forecheck. He implements heavy pressure on the forecheck and does a good job staying toe to toe with the puck carrier."
"He has excellent reach that allows him to use active stick by extending his stick blade out to cut down passing lanes.
When backwards skating back into the neutral zone and he has his eye on the attacking defender in their own defensive zone, he extends his stick blade out to take away a passing lane to an attacking forward skating up towards the blue line."
"He is not going to wow you with his power stride and his crossovers don’t generate enough speed. I do believe that Slafkovsky knows that his crossovers don’t net enough acceleration and that is why he is slightly more cautious about carrying the puck from zone to zone in transition..he relies on his stride to accelerate himself up the ice. He can generate solid speed when implementing his standard skate extensions'"
"Projection: Slafkovsky can be a menace at the NHL level. His stick-handling reach and his play on the cycle makes him a threat down low. If he can broaden his game by working on his long range shot, that allows him to become a dual threat. But, even if he doesn’t become that dual threat offensively, he has the physicality and the reach to net pucks in puck battles and set up teammates in the slot. With that said, I can envision him being a top six contributor at the NHL level."

 

[ReHabs]

“With that said, I can envision him being a top six contributor at the NHL level."

How lucky are we to have this upside in our first overall pick.

 

[Kennerback]

Players that get rushed might still become NHL players but they most of the time become perimeter players.

Your comment is making me worry.

I don’t think the fact he has a sloppy shot release and rarely shoots will be affected by being rushed or not. I just don’t know if it can really be improved at his age. I hope so. But I need to see it to believe it.

Is he ready to work hours on his release when he’s already in the NHL and his mates are out having fun? The fact the rest of his game Is getting better can help him focus more on that. IDK

 

[Don D]

How lucky are we to have this upside in our first overall pick.

Reporter's quote. One can always chose a comment to make a case.
We can either accept the contributions (several in the report above) Slaf can bring or continously comment on his shortcomings.
Slaf did not ask to be chosen first. Any criticism should be directed at scouting.

I don’t think the fact he has a sloppy shot release and rarely shoots will be affected by being rushed or not. I just don’t know if it can really be improved at his age. I hope so. But I need to see it to believe it.

Is he ready to work hours on his release when he’s already in the NHL and his mates are out having fun? The fact the rest of his game Is getting better can help him focus more on that. IDK

Good observation:

The fact the rest of his game Is getting better can help him focus more on that.

 

[Kennerback]

Found this interesting in-depth scouting report of Slaf from late 2021-early 2022. Very fair assessment.

Scouting Report: Juraj Slafkovsky - Smaht Scouting

Smaht Scouting's Josh Tessler takes an in-depth look at 2022 NHL Draft prospect Juraj Slafkovsky (LW, TPS).

smahtscouting.com

Some takeaways:
"l."

Where Slafkovsky shines the most is on the forecheck. He implements heavy pressure on the forecheck and does a good job staying toe to toe with the puck carrier.
Very true

"He has excellent reach that allows him to use active stick by extending his stick blade out to cut down passing lanes.
true

When backwards skating back into the neutral zone and he has his eye on the attacking defender in their own defensive zone, he extends his stick blade out to take away a passing lane to an attacking forward skating up towards the blue line."
probably true

"He is not going to wow you with his power stride and his crossovers don’t generate enough speed. I do believe that Slafkovsky knows that his crossovers don’t net enough acceleration and that is why he is slightly more cautious about carrying the puck from zone to zone in transition..
His skating is better than this and looks fine. Zero worries.

he relies on his stride to accelerate himself up the ice.
He can generate solid speed when implementing his standard skate extensions'"

Very true

"Projection: Slafkovsky can be a menace at the NHL level. His stick-handling reach and his play on the cycle makes him a threat down low.

Yes he is a mega menace down low IF he would take the puck to the net, which should be a no-brainer for him. But he never does it. It doesn’t seem to even cross his mind that he can do this.

. If he can broaden his game by working on his long range shot, that allows him to become a dual threat.
Long-range, Medium-range, Short-Range shot release. Even the idea that he can shoot instead of pass. All needs tons of work. Much worse than I could ever imagine when I saw him in Liiga and international competition. I completely missed the degree of this problem before he was drafted.

2 forwards didn’t get a shot on net the last 2 games. Slaf was one of them. It’s ludicrous. it’s like he deliberately tries not to shoot on net.

But, even if he doesn’t become that dual threat offensively, he has the physicality and the reach to net pucks in puck battles and set up teammates in the slot.

Very true. An excellent passer.

With that said, I can envision him being a top six contributor at the NHL level

 

[ReHabs]

Reporter's quote. One can always chose a comment to make a case.
We can either accept the contributions (several in the report above) Slaf can bring or continously comment on his shortcomings.
Slaf did not ask to be chosen first. Any criticism should be directed at scouting.

Hey man, you said (and I quote) "Very fair assessment". The section I highlighted was the only one which directly made reference to his NHL production. Take it up with your reporter.

 

[Don D]

Where Slafkovsky shines the most is on the forecheck. He implements heavy pressure on the forecheck and does a good job staying toe to toe with the puck carrier.
Very true

"He has excellent reach that allows him to use active stick by extending his stick blade out to cut down passing lanes.
true

When backwards skating back into the neutral zone and he has his eye on the attacking defender in their own defensive zone, he extends his stick blade out to take away a passing lane to an attacking forward skating up towards the blue line."
probably true

"He is not going to wow you with his power stride and his crossovers don’t generate enough speed. I do believe that Slafkovsky knows that his crossovers don’t net enough acceleration and that is why he is slightly more cautious about carrying the puck from zone to zone in transition..
His skating is better than this and looks fine. Zero worries.

he relies on his stride to accelerate himself up the ice.
He can generate solid speed when implementing his standard skate extensions'"

Very true

"Projection: Slafkovsky can be a menace at the NHL level. His stick-handling reach and his play on the cycle makes him a threat down low.

Yes he is a mega menace down low IF he would take the puck to the net, which should be a no-brainer for him. But he never does it. It doesn’t seem to even cross his mind that he can do this.

. If he can broaden his game by working on his long range shot, that allows him to become a dual threat.
Long-range, Medium-range, Short-Range shot release. Even the idea that he can shoot instead of pass. All needs tons of work. Much worse than I could ever imagine when I saw him in Liiga and international competition. I completely missed the degree of this problem before he was drafted.

2 forwards didn’t get a shot on net the last 2 games. Slaf was one of them. It’s ludicrous. it’s like he deliberately tries not to shoot on net.

But, even if he doesn’t become that dual threat offensively, he has the physicality and the reach to net pucks in puck battles and set up teammates in the slot.

Very true. An excellent passer.

With that said, I can envision him being a top six contributor at the NHL level

Fair comments!

 

[DAChampion]

So, in which league/season did he dominate?

Note: N/A means not in the top100

Year	League/Division	Points	PPG
2017-2018	Slovakia u16s	6th	c. 7th
	Slovakia u18s	N/A	71st
2018-2019	RB Hockey Ac.	N/A	43rd
	Czechia u16s	54th	13th
	Czechia u19s	N/A	N/A
2019-2020	Finland u16s	N/A	38th
	Finland u18s	12th	35th
	Finland u20s	N/A	N/A
2020-2021	Finland u18s	N/A	8th (2pts in 1gp)
	Finland u20s	N/A	90th
2021-2022	Finland u20s	N/A	11th
	Finland Liiga	N/A	N/A

Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing? In which league has he ever dominated in his life?

All right fair enough. I guess some of those leagues are very high scoring.

Now I'm worried that Slafkovsky has always been promoted early and thus has not been allowed to simmer and dominate, rather he's always tried to survive.

 

[leVENTduNORD]

Hey man, you said (and I quote) "Very fair assessment". The section I highlighted was the only one which directly made reference to his NHL production. Take it up with your reporter.

Whenever someone says something that might sound somewhat positive we sure can count on you to remind everyone there's nothing positive about Slaf future. (Iimagine if Slaf was picked by your team!)

Not a chance you let us down. No way!

 

[ReHabs]

All right fair enough. I guess some of those leagues are very high scoring.

Now I'm worried that Slafkovsky has always been promoted early and thus has not been allowed to simmer and dominate, rather he's always tried to survive.

That's precisely the issue I had with his prospect profile and one that was entirely side-stepped and ignored because everybody and their uncle wanted to not have to justify their faith in Kent Hughes & Slafkovsky (both). Not a single Habs reporter or writer talked about this massive hole in Slafkovsky's profile -- either before or after the 2022 Draft.

He has never dominated any league and it shows in how he plays. He's almost certainly never going to be the smartest or most capable player on the ice in the NHL. He's likely never been the best player on the ice/in the game, ever. That's the aura which I feel the 1OA should have and Slaf does not have it. I'm not sure if any of the other names (bar Wright, who did have it) had such pedigree. I'm not even sure it matters, really... but the survive/thrive thing is definitely something that has bugged me all this time.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

So, in which league/season did he dominate?

Note: N/A means not in the top100

Year	League/Division	Points	PPG
2017-2018	Slovakia u16s	6th	c. 7th
	Slovakia u18s	N/A	71st
2018-2019	RB Hockey Ac.	N/A	43rd
	Czechia u16s	54th	13th
	Czechia u19s	N/A	N/A
2019-2020	Finland u16s	N/A	38th
	Finland u18s	12th	35th
	Finland u20s	N/A	N/A
2020-2021	Finland u18s	N/A	8th (2pts in 1gp)
	Finland u20s	N/A	90th
2021-2022	Finland u20s	N/A	11th
	Finland Liiga	N/A	N/A

Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing? In which league has he ever dominated in his life?

Hey rehabs I'm not a fan of the constant discourse on him you conduct but I gotta say you got them on this one.

Im a fan of his game and i think he figures it out and become a top 6 player but we can't really say he's dominated any of these leagues by looking at his stats. That said maybe some obscur slovak poster here has seen him when he was a wee boy and could vouch for the lad

 

[ReHabs]

Hey rehabs I'm not a fan of the constant discourse on him you conduct but I gotta say you got them on this one.

If people didn't lie and talk nonsense I wouldn't feel compelled to continue the discourse. We've seen so much BS peddled by Habs commentators about Slafkovsky that it's getting all a bit farcical now. I don't think DAChampion lied, I think that commentator took it for granted that the 1OA had dominated at some point in his career, because it seems so normal to think so.

Im a fan of his game and i think he figures it out and become a top 6 player but we can't really say he's dominated any of these leagues by looking at his stats. That said maybe some obscur slovak poster here has seen him when he was a wee boy and could vouch for the lad

There's a commentator who comments on prospects and in the General Forum who watched him in Liiga who absolutely corroborates everything that the more, erm "realist" crowd has said all along. We can only hope for some unexpected growth which the BS peddlers will insist they expected all along of it happens, and if it doesn't happen they'll say we shouldn't have expected it in the first place. Comme d'habitude.

I want to see his growth and will celebrate it but facts are facts: he has yet to prove he can make plays in any reliable way. He's so far from being a producer that it's hard to imagine THIS player looking like THAT player.

 

[Goldenhands]

So, in which league/season did he dominate?

Note: N/A means not in the top100

Year	League/Division	Points	PPG
2017-2018	Slovakia u16s	6th	c. 7th
	Slovakia u18s	N/A	71st
2018-2019	RB Hockey Ac.	N/A	43rd
	Czechia u16s	54th	13th
	Czechia u19s	N/A	N/A
2019-2020	Finland u16s	N/A	38th
	Finland u18s	12th	35th
	Finland u20s	N/A	N/A
2020-2021	Finland u18s	N/A	8th (2pts in 1gp)
	Finland u20s	N/A	90th
2021-2022	Finland u20s	N/A	11th
	Finland Liiga	N/A	N/A

Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing? In which league has he ever dominated in his life?

He had more than respectable production in J20 with 18 pts in 11 games. He was dominant at the Hlinka with 11 pts in 6 games, leading team Slovakia to the finale.

Then 7 goals in 7 games at the Olympics, MVP of the tournament, 1st medal for the national team.

Then 9 pts in 8 games at the WC against NHLers, KHLers, SHL, Liiga players.

But of course, you already know all this and those competitions were only Pee-Wee AA caliber, about the same level as you can see every year in Quebec city.

 

[Andrei79]

So, in which league/season did he dominate?

Note: N/A means not in the top100

Year	League/Division	Points	PPG
2017-2018	Slovakia u16s	6th	c. 7th
	Slovakia u18s	N/A	71st
2018-2019	RB Hockey Ac.	N/A	43rd
	Czechia u16s	54th	13th
	Czechia u19s	N/A	N/A
2019-2020	Finland u16s	N/A	38th
	Finland u18s	12th	35th
	Finland u20s	N/A	N/A
2020-2021	Finland u18s	N/A	8th (2pts in 1gp)
	Finland u20s	N/A	90th
2021-2022	Finland u20s	N/A	11th
	Finland Liiga	N/A	N/A

Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing? In which league has he ever dominated in his life?

Posts like these are so incredibly disingeneous. It's almost like someone self-snitching their agenda.

Let's just take 2021-2022. You say he was 11th in ppg in U20.

If he had played 40 games at that pace, he would have been the leading scorer by almost 20 points.

Not only that, out of the 10 in "front" of him, 8 had 4 games played or less and one was tied.

He was actually SECOND in ppg for players with 10 games or more. The one player in front of him was 2 years older. The guy tied was also two years older. The guy right after him was three years older. The one after that ? Two years older. And after that one ? Two years older.

You literally have to go down 13 players to find a player who was born in july 2003 (so 1 year older), rather than 2-4 years older. And that player had a ppg 0.3 lower.

So yes, he did dominate that league during the time he was down there.

 

[Goldenhands]

Posts like these are so incredibly disingeneous. It's almost like someone self-snitching their agenda.

Let's just take 2021-2022. You say he was 11th in ppg in U20.

If he had played 40 games at that pace, he would have been the leading scorer by almost 20 points.

Not only that, out of the 10 in "front" of him, 8 had 4 games played or less and one was tied.

He was actually SECOND in ppg for players with 10 games or more. The one player in front of him was 2 years older. The guy tied was also two years older. The guy right after him was three years older. The one after that ? Two years older. And after that one ? Two years older.

You literally have to go down 13 players to find a player who was born in july 2003 (so 1 year older), rather than 2-4 years older. And that player had a ppg 0.3 lower.

So yes, he did dominate that league during the time he was down there.

Good post, I wonder how a stats freak like him will answer this.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Let’s see if he can take it up a notch on Suzuki’s wing.

https://x.com/byronmbader/status/1731800213520793822?s=46&t=3S1UYEm6R67NmwSo2-MPQQ

 

[cave troll]

Then 7 goals in 7 games at the Olympics, MVP of the tournament, 1st medal for the national team.

Then 9 pts in 8 games at the WC against NHLers, KHLers, SHL, Liiga players.

But of course, you already know all this and those competitions were only Pee-Wee AA caliber, about the same level as you can see every year in Quebec city.

Oh yeah. The same NHL, KHL. SHL WC dominated by Joel Armia who won the gold for Finland with dominating performances.
I wonder why Armia already doesn't have 25- 30 points this season. He should have since he dominates on WC.

 

[ReHabs]

He had more than respectable production in J20 with 18 pts in 11 games. He was dominant at the Hlinka with 11 pts in 6 games, leading team Slovakia to the finale.

Then 7 goals in 7 games at the Olympics, MVP of the tournament, 1st medal for the national team.

Then 9 pts in 8 games at the WC against NHLers, KHLers, SHL, Liiga players.

But of course, you already know all this and those competitions were only Pee-Wee AA caliber, about the same level as you can see every year in Quebec city.

I did mention his 2021-2022 u20s season, he was not in the top100 in overall points and was 11th in PPG.
As for the rest of your frankly boring and repetitive whining, I only looked at league play as that was the topic of discussion. Whether he dominated any league in which he played. The answer is no. We've all heard about his tournament games against Kazakh plumbers and Latvian accountants.

Posts like these are so incredibly disingeneous. It's almost like someone self-snitching their agenda.

Let's just take 2021-2022. You say he was 11th in ppg in U20.

If he had played 40 games at that pace, he would have been the leading scorer by almost 20 points.

Not only that, out of the 10 in "front" of him, 8 had 4 games played or less and one was tied.

He was actually SECOND in ppg for players with 10 games or more. The one player in front of him was 2 years older. The guy tied was also two years older. The guy right after him was three years older. The one after that ? Two years older. And after that one ? Two years older.

You literally have to go down 13 players to find a player who was born in july 2003 (so 1 year older), rather than 2-4 years older. And that player had a ppg 0.3 lower.

So yes, he did dominate that league during the time he was down there.

What are you talking about exactly? I clicked his name on elite-prospects, I clicked on his league season and then I sorted by pts and PPG and picked out Slafkovsky. I did no other filter, I did no alchemy.

Funny you're hung up on the 2021-2022 U20 season, that's the season he struggled in Liiga with his 10pt showing (significantly less than Kotkanimi in his draft year) and many of you find ways to deny and obfuscate that too, with some alchemy no doubt. He was a Liiga player that year, not a U20 player. You basically crying your eyes out that I didn't do alchemy to make him look like he dominated a league he was meant to have outgrown. FFS have some standards.

 

[Goldenhands]

Oh yeah. The same NHL, KHL. SHL WC dominated by Joel Armia who won the gold for Finland with dominating performances.
I wonder why Armia already doesn't have 25- 30 points this season. He should have since he dominates on WC.

Yeah exactly, a 30 year old vet Joel Armia vs a 17 yrs old Juraj Slafkovsky.

 

[Goldenhands]

I did mention his 2021-2022 u20s season, he was not in the top100 in overall points and was 11th in PPG.
As for the rest of your frankly boring and repetitive whining, I only looked at league play as that was the topic of discussion. Whether he dominated any league in which he played. The answer is no. We've all heard about his tournament games against Kazakh plumbers and Latvian accountants.


What are you talking about exactly? I clicked his name on elite-prospects, I clicked on his league season and then I sorted by pts and PPG and picked out Slafkovsky. I did no other filter, I did no alchemy.

Funny you're hung up on the 2021-2022 U20 season, that's the season he struggled in Liiga with his 10pt showing (significantly less than Kotkanimi in his draft year) and many of you find ways to deny and obfuscate that too, with some alchemy no doubt. He was a Liiga player that year, not a U20 player. You basically crying your eyes out that I didn't do alchemy to make him look like he dominated a league he was meant to have outgrown. FFS have some standards.

Andrei79 provided you a stats evidence that Slaf was dominating his age group in J20, (mod)

 

[ReHabs]

Andrei79 provided you a stats evidence that Slaf was dominating his age group in J20, (mod)

You of all people should know Slafkovsky wasn't regularly playing in the U20s in the 2021-2022 season. He played 11 games there in various stints throughout that seasons. He was in reality a Liiga player that year playing nearly 3x as many games in Liiga than in the U20s, and we all know how that went. He was sent down at various times to the U20s for short stints.

If you think 11 games played at random in a lower division constitutes as dominating a league then so be it. I hope the rest of the board isn't so foolish.

 

[Don D]

Oh yeah. The same NHL, KHL. SHL WC dominated by Joel Armia who won the gold for Finland with dominating performances.
I wonder why Armia already doesn't have 25- 30 points this season. He should have since he dominates on WC.

Unbelievable.
There have been countless players who excelled in those leagues or tournaments who never became solid NHLers and many who did not excel but were able to havid solid NHL seasons.
In the 2013 World Junior U20, Armia was awesome, 12 pts in 6 games. Never duplicated in NHL.
In the same tournament, Scheifele had 8 Pts in 6 games, Kucherov 8 in 7, Draisatl 6 in 6,....
Dominating in one league or tournament does not mean you will be a bonafide NHLer, neither does having a bad season or tournament mean there is no NHL future. Players have different development curves, some make it, others don't.
Too easy to pick one player or another and make a definite conclusion about another player.