Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[Hansman]

Slaf absolutely needs to be an agent of chaos. He’s 6’3, 250, fast and strong. His meal ticket in the NHL is not being Gretzky, Bedard or Hughes. He’s not cute. He’s a monster. He needs to behave like a monster around the net.

Slaf is hanging around the goal mouth more lately.

 

[Tyson]

There will come a day real soon when the realization around the league is that he is a handful and difficult to play against.

 

[Svart]

Slaf is hanging around the goal mouth more lately.

Marty showed him videos of his old teammate Dave Andreychuk

 

[Milhouse40]

I suggested to take a minute in order to build up the case that he's actually arrived. Because at this moment Slafkovsky is only on pace for 29 points in his sophomore season, which remains the worst production for a top drafted forward in over 20 years. If this is a project, it isn't finished yet.

And yet, true to form, you:

View attachment 790131

Wow! the worst production for a top drafted forward in the last 20 years.
That sounds bad.....but that argument has absolutely ZERO value.

We all knew before the draft, it was a weak draft, we all knew we wouldn't get a Bedard, McDavid or MacKinnon. This is not a surprise for anybody but you still insist to compare him to other 1st overall.

The question is really, did they made the best pick possible in that draft?
It's still too early to tell and although I was viciously against that pick,.......so far, I think they did.

You can only play the hands you'Ve been dealt

 

[BaseballCoach]

As much as it pissed me off to hear it from Day 1 from Re-Habs, his offense was a problem. Yeah he’s a kid. I get that. But his offense and shot release are worse than any pre-draft prospect report had said. On the fact he never shoots on net, I didn’t even know this even existed.

There were serious growing pains. We’re in late Joe Thornton development curve territory and on the verge of crossing in unchartered water. I still love him. I still hope the sky is the limit.

I don't agree. Slaf's offence was not a 'problem', that's hilarious. The guy scored against men at age 17, in big tournaments. He got points against men, playing on the 3rd line in Finland at the same age. Yes, it was more in the second half, but that is not a problem.

The 'problem' was nothing more than adapting to the NHL pace and style. The coaching staff made it clear to him that they were going to measure his success in grasping what they wanted, not how many points he scored.

Some fans, concerned we did not pick Shane Wright, wanted instant reassurance through points. THEY had a problem, not Slaf.

 

[jrom]

I don't agree. Slaf's offence was not a 'problem', that's hilarious. The guy scored against men at age 17, in big tournaments. He got points against men, playing on the 3rd line in Finland at the same age. Yes, it was more in the second half, but that is not a problem.

The 'problem' was nothing more than adapting to the NHL pace and style. The coaching staff made it clear to him that they were going to measure his success in grasping what they wanted, not how many points he scored.

Some fans, concerned we did not pick Shane Wright, wanted instant reassurance through points. THEY had a problem, not Slaf.

Well to be fair, everyone was kinda “underwhelmed” (even Hugues said so publicly) by his first year.

After that yes some were quick to clamor “bust”, like some are now saying “best player on the team”.

 

[CauZuki]

This.

I believed we were in a developement state. f***ing St louis.

Nice call @Hannibal and @Lafleurs Guy , miss you guys happy holidays.

- Avim86 from HFHabs PS4 GMconnected / EASHL (and for some time on HF ).

 

[HeartAttack]

amount od crap in this thread is mesmerising...

there is only one simple question...

would you trade Slafkovsky for Wright right now? 1vs1 trade...

if no then stfu and enjoy what he brings to the table...

 

[le_sean]

‘’I never called him a bust, just that he had low hockey IQ, the worst 1st overall ever, won’t ever score points because he scored 10 in liiga, but no, not a bust’’

“I didn’t rob that bank, I only hired the robbers, planned the robbery and drove the getaway car”

 

[BaseballCoach]

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?

6th in points in a entire16 year old league at age 13! That's dominating

from Dec 4th before he joined the first line that night 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.

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.

And then in 3 weeks everyone else became lucky.

Of couirse that is not the case. He was put on the first line BECAUSE he was showing that well.

 

[417]

6th in points in a entire16 year old league at age 13! That's dominating

Who even cares, there’s a bunch of players there who did dominate.

Where are they now?

 

[KevSkillz4]

That's insane to think that Slaf and Hutson, both have potential to become the best player in 2022 draft.

That's a lot of good players in this draft, but Habs draft 2 prospects with elite potential and both will easily be in top 5-10 in re-draft 2022 in few years! I'm 100% confident with that statement.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

His play of late is extremely exciting as he has become an absolutely abusive forechecker and his board work and puck retrievals are exactly what the top line needed. The next step is to take the puck to the net more often and think with a shoot first mentality. He is still too often looking to pass when he needs to shoot but that will change with more confidence. Slaf needs the threat of shooting to open up passing lanes more than he needs the threat of passing to open up shots as he has the size, strength and skill to create his own shot. Nicholas will need to do some work on Slaf's finishing skills as his targeting is predictable and his pre shot stick work is not providing enough deception but the finished product is at least visible now. Once he starts burying the chances that he creates his entire game will blossom as we know that he will look to pass if they gang up and try and take away his shot.

He has simplified his game as I wanted him to do and is making better decisions and this has also allowed him to not rush the play and let the play unfold a little longer. He is seeing lanes open up instead of blindly throwing the puck into the middle of the ice.

The biggest question with him has always been IQ and I was never sure whether it was a hardware problem or a software problem or a user problem. It appears as though it was the latter two as the hardware seems to be able to read the new software that had never been downloaded before entering the NHL and he is just now figuring out how to best use the new software.

 

[jrom]

His play of late is extremely exciting as he has become an absolutely abusive forechecker and his board work and puck retrievals are exactly what the top line needed. The next step is to take the puck to the net more often and think with a shoot first mentality. He is still too often looking to pass when he needs to shoot but that will change with more confidence. Slaf needs the threat of shooting to open up passing lanes more than he needs the threat of passing to open up shots as he has the size, strength and skill to create his own shot. Nicholas will need to do some work on Slaf's finishing skills as his targeting is predictable and his pre shot stick work is not providing enough deception but the finished product is at least visible now. Once he starts burying the chances that he creates his entire game will blossom as we know that he will look to pass if they gang up and try and take away his shot.

He has simplified his game as I wanted him to do and is making better decisions and this has also allowed him to not rush the play and let the play unfold a little longer. He is seeing lanes open up instead of blindly throwing the puck into the middle of the ice.

The biggest question with him has always been IQ and I was never sure whether it was a hardware problem or a software problem or a user problem. It appears as though it was the latter two as the hardware seems to be able to read the new software that had never been downloaded before entering the NHL and he is just now figuring out how to best use the new software.

Most great players are "artists" on ice, I think Slaf is more a craftsman.

Craftsman in the sense that he basically is learning his trade from MSL & Nicholas, both on the physical play (balance, board play etc) and the decision-making part. I like your "software download" analogy because for me it always felt like Slaf was Neo in the Matrix movie, learning "kung-fu", then "karate" then "xyz".

They even explicitly say it out loud (last year) "I need to decide what kind of player I want to be" this year "I'm building my game", "adding things to my game"etc

Beyond his obvious physical attributes, HuGo, Craig Ramsay, MSL all said he has a great attitude and is very teachable. I think the question for Slaf is how much can he improve through training, because his upside reside on him learning rather then an innate hockey IQ.

He is a signature project for HuGo, they often talked about teaching hockey IQ, how MSL was the best at getting better, that Brad Marchand is a great example of continuous development, etc.

Honestly during his first year he was underwhelming to watch (and still now from time to time). We're starting to see applied (in game) all his trade improvements and it's easy to see that in 2-3 years he's gonna be a disrupting factor for other teams, just by gaining more strenght/reps. Hopefully the upside is even higher !

 

[BenchBrawl]

Slaf has proven his clutchness in the past.

Time will tell, but I'm excited to see him play in the playoffs when our core is in its prime.

 

[DAChampion]

would you trade Slafkovsky for Wright right now? 1vs1 trade...

No.

 

[Hannibal]

Nice call @Hannibal and @Lafleurs Guy , miss you guys happy holidays.

- Avim86 from HFHabs PS4 GMconnected (and for some time on HF ).

Hey buddy! Happy holidays man! Those were the days !!

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

amount od crap in this thread is mesmerising...

there is only one simple question...

would you trade Slafkovsky for Wright right now? 1vs1 trade...

if no then stfu and enjoy what he brings to the table...

Of course not... but I do think if we had drafted Wright instead of Slaf, the same fans would be going through mental gymnastics to justify how Wright's 9 goals and 16 points in 22 AHL games is elite progress, and how we like him more than Cooley because he is 6" and right handed and plays defensively and yah yah yah

 

[ReHabs]

Wow! the worst production for a top drafted forward in the last 20 years.
That sounds bad.....but that argument has absolutely ZERO value.

We all knew before the draft, it was a weak draft, we all knew we wouldn't get a Bedard, McDavid or MacKinnon. This is not a surprise for anybody but you still insist to compare him to other 1st overall.

The question is really, did they made the best pick possible in that draft?
It's still too early to tell and although I was viciously against that pick,.......so far, I think they did.

You can only play the hands you'Ve been dealt

So you agree he is not meant to be compared to other 1OAs of other drafts, but you also think the Habs did everything right last year by rushing him to the NHL like other 1OAs of other drafts?

the point is that extrapolations don't work for unicorns.

The point is, as far as my life as a Habs fan, unicorns don’t exist and struggling prospects who look completely lost don’t turn into impact players.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

The ganging up on ReHabs is cringe.

100%

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

That's insane to think that Slaf and Hutson, both have potential to become the best player in 2022 draft.

That's a lot of good players in this draft, but Habs draft 2 prospects with elite potential and both will easily be in top 5-10 in re-draft 2022 in few years! I'm 100% confident with that statement.

Certainly a possibility.

Again though, we won’t know this for years. Slaf hasn’t even played 82 games. People just need to be patient and not get too high or low either way. But both are exciting projects and I’m certainly excited about that draft.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Honestly during his first year he was underwhelming to watch (and still now from time to time). We're starting to see applied (in game) all his trade improvements and it's easy to see that in 2-3 years he's gonna be a disrupting factor for other teams, just by gaining more strenght/reps. Hopefully the upside is even higher !

LOL!!!

"Underwhelming from time to time" - does that mean he is not creating two scoring chances per shift?

Holy cow. He is 19 years old and has not completed one season's worth of games yet. In the past nine games on the first line, Slaf is contributing close to what Suzuki contributes. Suzy is a mid-tier first line player. Let's say that Slaf is playing like an above-average second line player.

Second line players are underwhelming 'from time to time'. Yeah, that is why they are not first liners.

But wait.

Even Mitch Marner is underwhelming 'from time to time'. Cole Caufield. Suzuki for sure.

And by the way, Slaf is still in his first year. The age at which he played three months last year, Brady Tkachuk was not playing the NHL yet. Slaf got injured at age 18.8.

Brady started in the NHL at age 18.9 years.

Sean Monahan started in the NHL immediately but was 19.0 years.

John Tavares started in the NHL immediately but was 19.0 years.

Auston Matthews started in the NHL at age 18.9 years.

Alexis Lafreniere started in the NHL immediately but was 19.0 years.

'Underwhelming from time to time even now'. A most unfair assessment to use as a complaint.

 

[ReHabs]

He is 19 years old and has not completed one season's worth of games yet.

Slaf as a 19 year old sophomore is around 20th in scoring compared to rookies this year. He's around 4th or 5th in scoring compared to his 2022 draft cohort, behind a dman and a 2nd round pick. Enough with the false excuses to justify your vision. He's in the NHL, that's what you wanted - he's also producing at a 3rd liner's rate, I don't think you wanted that. Maybe it's part of his development trajectory, maybe this development trajectory is agnostic to his potential output in his career, or maybe it isn't.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Slaf as a 19 year old sophomore is around 20th in scoring compared to rookies this year. He's around 4th or 5th in scoring compared to his 2022 draft cohort, behind a dman and a 2nd round pick. Enough with the false excuses to justify your vision. He's in the NHL, that's what you wanted - he's also producing at a 3rd liner's rate, I don't think you wanted that. Maybe it's part of his development trajectory, maybe this development trajectory is agnostic to his potential output in his career, or maybe it isn't.

Under his current usage, Slaf has 5 points in 9 games, which is second line territory. Small sample size, yes. However the eye test as validated by every NHL observer tells us his production could have been higher and not lower given his actual impact on ice each game.

Who among the Habs forwards is more impactful over 60 minutes than Slaf right now? Suzuki, Monahan - check. Caufield? Maybe.

Anyone else?

"But he's being gifted first line minutes" - yeah and doing more with them than Anderson, RHP, Armia, Gallagher did.

So this 19 year old kid with supposedly no skill or IQ for the game would logically not be one of our top 3-4 forwards or even top 6 if we included Dach (for sure) and Newhook (?). Sorry guy, it's a bad take. The stats are already catching up with his play, and soon you might have nothing left in your 'arsenal'. Which hopefully you are wishing for anyway.

 

[ReHabs]

Under his current usage, Slaf has 5 points in 9 games, which is second line territory. Small sample size, yes. However the eye test as validated by every NHL observer tells us his production could have been higher and not lower given his actual impact on ice each game.

Who among the Habs forwards is more impactful over 60 minutes than Slaf right now? Suzuki, Monahan - check. Caufield? Maybe.

Anyone else?

"But he's being gifted first line minutes" - yeah and doing more with them than Anderson, RHP, Armia, Gallagher did.

So this 19 year old kid with supposedly no skill or IQ for the game would logically not be one of our top 3-4 forwards or even top 6 if we included Dach (for sure) and Newhook (?). Sorry guy, it's a bad take. The stats are already catching up with his play, and soon you might have nothing left in your 'arsenal'. Which hopefully you are wishing for anyway.

What does this have to do with the age argument you tried to pull? He's 4th among 2022 draftees and would be 5th among 2023 draftees in terms of total points, Nemec has the same PPG as him so right now in terms of total points he's ranked 8th, in terms of PPG he's around 9th. I am not convinced by this output for a 1OA, when he's outproduced by a dman and a second round pick from his draft cohort. But that's just this year, and only so far, we will see how the rest of the season plays out.

As for minutes, I think every professional team operates with the notion of earning minutes (some are delayed in adjusting their lines, but they eventually do). Slaf is paired with Suzuki and Caufield for a reason. I'd never say he's been gifted his deployment -- so not sure why you're refuting an argument I didn't make.