Captain Mountain
Formerly Captain Wolverine
- Jun 6, 2010
- 21,067
- 15,187
He has 1 point in 8 games while being spoon fed top 6/first line opportunities. At what point is it acceptable to be concerned? People that hide behind the age argument disappear real fast when players get older and the same predictable patterns stay present.
It entirely depends on what you're actually concerned about.
Production? I tend to be willing to be a lot more patient than worrying about it now (or even at any point this season), just based on how long it takes most players to produce at an NHL level and the expectations of Slafkovsky prior to him being drafted.
On-ice play? I'm not sure I'd be concerned at all right now. People wanted to see what he could do in top 6/first line opportunities. Well, the Slaf, Suzuki and Caufield line has excellent underling numbers and looks good. Montreal hasn't really seen many line combinations either of last two seasons which were better. If you were to gamble on any line the Habs have put together doing something with more minutes, you'd want to bet on that one for now.
Unless you think: (a) an on-ice shooting percentage of just over 3% for the Slaf, Suzuki and Caufield line and a shooting percentage of around 4.5% personally is both sustainable and something to be expected, and (b) Slaf's improved play is not sustainable, then I'm not sure I see the concern. Especially since we can see Slafkovsky improving on the ice.
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