Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[The Gr8 Dane]

I'll feel like he's arrived when he starts to shoot more.

At least now he can beat his man one on one wide without getting plastered , he's also cutting to the middle more.

He looks really good out there

 

[ReHabs]

I'll feel like he's arrived when he starts to shoot more.

The development is multi faceted

He has to adapt to the NHL and play “his game” but he also has to develop “his game” too. He’s definitely more confident and assertive, you saw the active stick last night. He can be a menace. But I never worried about that, because now comes the other part, namely: making plays.

 

[Shabs]

I made an exact opposite post earlier in the mile long thread stating I thought he was too up right. I thought a little more knee bend would help,stabilize him a bit when absorbing hits!! But what do I know LOL. Im just happy that he seems to be improving

This is what I'm seeing - especially when he's carrying the puck - almost like he's sitting down. As a defender I find skaters like this easier to push from the chest and they fall back or push down on the back and the fall forward. For slaf in this position I think it's harder to manoeuvre and protect the puck, and harder to shoot. They also seemed to have given him KKs super long stick which I'm not a fan of but that's a different issue

 

[stenlis]

You're right, he smoked the Slovakia u16s when he was c. 13 years old. That is domination even if he didn't play the full season. I have a question for you: How good is that league relative to other u16 leagues that feed into the NHL? If I'm reading this correctly, there were just four players from that division/league season drafted by NHL teams and two of them are Slaf and Mesar.

We don't have U16 stats for any of the elite Slovak players so there's no comparison possible. The good thing is that Slafkovsky also dominated the Finnish U18 . Here some other players for comparison:

	GP	A	G	P	PPG
Juraj Slafkovsky	40	24	30	54	1,35
Mikko Rantanen	29	7	16	23	0,79
Mikael Granlund	22	18	22	40	1,81
Sebastian Aho	38	28	32	60	1,57
Patrik Laine	32	22	15	37	1,16
Roope Hintz	28	9	15	24	0,86

 

[Hannibal]

He clearly has the potential to be to most dominant player on this team.

So fun to watch him develop right in front of our eyes!!

 

[Kennerback]

Slafkovsky is a guy who now and in the future will do things that don't show up on the scoresheet. When he isn't putting up points, he can open up space for linemates and there's been some goals scored this year because of him screening the goalie in front of the net.

It is best not to judge his progress based on his stat lines, he has been progressing on the ice and in the future the points will also come.

He’s a controversial player. No one Montreal top draft pick in the past 50 years has looked so dominant in some areas and absolutely not in others, including the scoresheet.

 

[Andy]

My favorite play yesterday is when he holding the puck in the corner in a board battle with his head up looking for Suzuki. The opposing player couldn't move Slaf an inch. Then Slafkovsky kicked the puck to an open Suzuki for a scoring chance.

He's 19 and already tough to move.

 

[Deebs]

View attachment 777987
This is what I'm seeing - especially when he's carrying the puck - almost like he's sitting down. As a defender I find skaters like this easier to push from the chest and they fall back or push down on the back and the fall forward. For slaf in this position I think it's harder to manoeuvre and protect the puck, and harder to shoot. They also seemed to have given him KKs super long stick which I'm not a fan of but that's a different issue

I can say throughout my 46 years of playing and watching hockey, I've never heard someone think it's easier for a defenseman to control a forward if they are in an athletic position than an upright position. Is this being taught to young players these days?

 

[nhlfan9191]

My favorite play yesterday is when he holding the puck in the corner in a board battle with his head up looking for Suzuki. The opposing player couldn't move Slaf an inch. Then Slafkovsky kicked the puck to an open Suzuki for a scoring chance.

He's 19 and already tough to move.

It doesn’t matter how old he is. 230+ pounds is still 230+ pounds. That’s a lot of weight to move for the average NHL player. That was the unicorn part of his potential. Having that size to go with skill. The question will remain if we see him hit the potential on the skill side of things.

 

[ReHabs]

We don't have U16 stats for any of the elite Slovak players so there's no comparison possible. The good thing is that Slafkovsky also dominated the Finnish U18 . Here some other players for comparison:

	GP	A	G	P	PPG
Juraj Slafkovsky	40	24	30	54	1,35
Mikko Rantanen	29	7	16	23	0,79
Mikael Granlund	22	18	22	40	1,81
Sebastian Aho	38	28	32	60	1,57
Patrik Laine	32	22	15	37	1,16
Roope Hintz	28	9	15	24	0,86

Makes more sense to compare him against his peers in his season, no? That's how you know if a player did well in that division/season. Aggregate stats are a bit strange.

 

[HomaridII]

My favorite play yesterday is when he holding the puck in the corner in a board battle with his head up looking for Suzuki. The opposing player couldn't move Slaf an inch. Then Slafkovsky kicked the puck to an open Suzuki for a scoring chance.

He's 19 and already tough to move.

That was my favourite play as well. He literally could have stayed there ALL day if that defender didn't get help.

Another favourite play was a board battle vs Olesiak and somebody else, 2 vs 1. Olesiak is a monster 6'7 and the other guy was Slaf's size, but they couldn't move him.

He is really built like a rock.

But you know what got me excited, the rush up the ice from behind the net. He did that every game for Slovakia at the World Jr and the World Cup. Nothing like a 6'4 beast that can skate and stick handle coming at you at full speed.

 

[Andy]

It doesn’t matter how old he is. 230+ pounds is still 230+ pounds. That’s a lot of weight to move for the average NHL player. That was the unicorn part of his potential. Having that size to go with skill. The question will remain if we see him hit the potential on the skill side of things.

It reminds me of a play when Dustin Byfuglien was in a board battle in the corner, looked up at the camera, made a funny face, and then just walked away with the puck because the opponent just couldn't move him lol.

 

[Jaynki]

If he is playing on the top line with Suzuki and Caufield for the remainder of the 57 games and has every PP1 until year end, with the dominance he is displaying and multiple grade A scoring chances he has/generate, i would not be surprised if he ends up with somewhere between 33 points and 43 points in 57 games for a total around 40 and 50 points for the season.

Exponential, parabolic growth for a 19 years old with a unique, special skillset.

Not sorry for sounding like a cuck

 

[OnTheRun]

My favorite play yesterday is when he holding the puck in the corner in a board battle with his head up looking for Suzuki. The opposing player couldn't move Slaf an inch. Then Slafkovsky kicked the puck to an open Suzuki for a scoring chance.

He's 19 and already tough to move.

He had the blade of his skate on the puck at that point. So he was basically towering there... on one leg.

 

[Pazucha]

He had the blade of his skate on the puck at that point. So he was basically towering there... on one leg.

My favorite play yesterday is when he holding the puck in the corner in a board battle with his head up looking for Suzuki. The opposing player couldn't move Slaf an inch. Then Slafkovsky kicked the puck to an open Suzuki for a scoring chance.

He's 19 and already tough to move.

 

[SpeedyPotato]

The development is multi faceted

He has to adapt to the NHL and play “his game” but he also has to develop “his game” too. He’s definitely more confident and assertive, you saw the active stick last night. He can be a menace. But I never worried about that, because now comes the other part, namely: making plays.

He actually made quite a few plays yesterday

 

[muzion]

In two years that's a goal...

 

[the valiant effort]

This Byron Bader guy calling himself a data scientist as he synthesizes goals, assists, and plus/minus "data" available on HockeyDB is the most egregious cybercrime in the history of the world.

 

[Pazucha]

"

 

[Tyson]

"

This was impressive which led to the winning goal by Monahan

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He’s a controversial player. No one Montreal top draft pick in the past 50 years has looked so dominant in some areas and absolutely not in others, including the scoresheet.

The guy has played like 60 games. Let’s give him a few years and then we’ll see how he’s doing on the scoresheet

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

He just needs to be a bit more selfish.

He looks for a pass when it's bad, or really bad at times. I'm not so sure thats his hockey sense lacking, but rather feeling he needs to make a pass rather than just playing the game how he would in a lower league.

 

[OnTheRun]

This Byron Bader guy calling himself a data scientist as he synthesizes goals, assists, and plus/minus "data" available on HockeyDB is the most egregious cybercrime in the history of the world.

To be fair, there's more than that going into a model... But it's still a "magic number" that don't work that well with hockey at this time (like it does in baseball). That said, I really expect breakthrough in AI to get us a magic number that will work well with hockey in the near future.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Is he our best two way winger at 5 on 5? I feel like visually he is but idk if the stats would support that. He's super disruptive defensively in the neutral zone and the guy backchecks like a demon , I actually wish he wasn't the first guy back almost every play but you love to see it. He seems to go into second gear on the backcheck whenever the team turns it over , guy wants to win games

 

[DAChampion]

This Byron Bader guy calling himself a data scientist as he synthesizes goals, assists, and plus/minus "data" available on HockeyDB is the most egregious cybercrime in the history of the world.

The hockey stats community continuously fails to impress me.

Bader looks like he's good at making plots and figures, but I'm not seeing a lot of information. He's calling himself a data scientist but he's really a marketing specialist. In that area he is certainly impressive, as he seemingly has no deep knowledge of hockey yet he's making money off of his knowledge of hockey.