Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[DAChampion]

333 pages, we're halfway there.

 

[GrandBison]

333 pages, we're halfway there.

Are you predicting he's going to be traded to the Devils?

 

[Lshap]

The 2022 draft class since November 4:

 

[V13]

333 pages, we're halfway there.

Yes

Slaf will explode offensively at page 666. The number of the Slafbeastsky !!

 

[Garnet76]

Slaf is currently moving in the right direction. No one will know if sending him down or keeping him up was the right decision. We don't have all the info it make an informed decision so we hope that management knows what they are doing. It seems to be paying off.
So many bigger players take time to develop and that was expected in Slafs case. He was and still is a project. I'm happy to see the development curve move in a more vertical direction and I think this is the tip of the iceberg.
I've mentioned Thorntons development curve previously. Another would be Todd Bertuzzi's. Played 4 years in the OHL and didn't hit 50pts till his 5th NHL season. I'm enjoying watching him play and get better and cheering for that to continue.

 

[Tyson]

Slaf is currently moving in the right direction. No one will know if sending him down or keeping him up was the right decision. We don't have all the info it make an informed decision so we hope that management knows what they are doing. It seems to be paying off.
So many bigger players take time to develop and that was expected in Slafs case. He was and still is a project. I'm happy to see the development curve move in a more vertical direction and I think this is the tip of the iceberg.
I've mentioned Thorntons development curve previously. Another would be Todd Bertuzzi's. Played 4 years in the OHL and didn't hit 50pts till his 5th NHL season. I'm enjoying watching him play and get better and cheering for that to continue.

John LeClair took took a while too and don't forget Tage Thompson and Quinton Byfield

 

[417]

John LeClair took took a while too and don't forget Tage Thompson and Quinton Byfield

Thompson and Byfield didn't take awhile…fans are just impatient.

 

[Goalfield13]

The 2022 draft class since November 4:

View attachment 790799

Shane Wright with the KK special.

Cooley -15 OMG...

 

[417]

The 2022 draft class since November 4:

View attachment 790799

If we take snapshots of players very early on in their development, we’re likely to draw a lot of conclusions that rarely stick.

If we were to do the same excercize in 2-3 years from now, this picture is going to look a lot different (well hopefully not too different lol).

Lesson to be learned: stop drawing long term conclusions based on short samples!


Btw this wasn't a criticism of your post.

 

[SlafySZN]

Great article by Anthony Martineau

https://www.tvasports.ca/2023/12/27/juraj-slafkovsky-six-histoires-qui-expliquent-tout

 

[417]

Great article by Anthony Martineau

https://www.tvasports.ca/2023/12/27/juraj-slafkovsky-six-histoires-qui-expliquent-tout

I tried to read that, was a bit too fluffy from me (and I typically enjoy his articles)

But what I got from that is Juraj’s ability to apply what he's being taught. He's very coachable and when you look at his size/skill package and you add that receptiveness to coaching…

You can see why they picked him, he has a huge capacity to learn and get better.

 

[MonkeyBusiness]

I don't like all this attention on myself. I don't want to have eight different conversations at the same time. Judging from flames and likes-on-flames, I know I'm not appreciated here.

Maybe if you stopped posting ad nauseam the same thing, people's perceptions would be different. At some point take a step back and just be patient with the development of a 19-year-old. What you're doing is obsessive, and the interminable walls of text you post about said 19-year-old is just insane. Don't play the victim when your hyperbolical contrarian approach isn't well received.

 

[Lshap]

If we take snapshots of players very early on in their development, we’re likely to draw a lot of conclusions that rarely stick.

If we were to do the same excercize in 2-3 years from now, this picture is going to look a lot different (well hopefully not too different lol).

Lesson to be learned: stop drawing long term conclusions based on short samples!


Btw this wasn't a criticism of your post.

Agree completely. Cooley needed only 10 NHL games before he was hailed as the pick-that-got-away. Two months later, Slafkovsky has been outplaying and outproducing him. So much for the many Nostradraftuses on this board. A reminder the Best Pick of 2022 wasn't decided in October, nor has it been decided now.

For now, I'm still cautious about Slafkovsky – happy to see the obvious improvement in his game, but not giving my holiday chocolate to our scouts just yet. I'm thinking long-term and I'm being patient, but I still expect the fruit of our suckage to become an impact player.

 

[BenchBrawl]

We won't know the truth until 2030.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

The 2022 draft class since November 4:

View attachment 790799

Where's Wright ?

 

[NORiculous]

Generational defenceman Larry Robinson made boneheaded plays once or twice per game. That is not a sufficient criterion to label a guy as 'no IQ, can't make plays' like @ReHabs repeatedly has.

It’s all relative though.

Compared to his peers, Robinson was great. The game has changed so much though. A lot of things that were exceptional back then are now routine, etc.

Standing on the shoulders of giants…

 

[Guy Larose]

Maybe if you stopped posting ad nauseam the same thing, people's perceptions would be different. At some point take a step back and just be patient with the development of a 19-year-old. What you're doing is obsessive, and the interminable walls of text you post about said 19-year-old is just insane. Don't play the victim when your hyperbolical contrarian approach isn't well received.

Amen! Unlike what someone else said, he deserves the ganging up on. He's relentless. His points that are "the worst of any 1st overall" are not even tallied up for a full season yet.

 

[417]

Amen! Unlike what someone else said, he deserves the ganging up on. He's relentless. His points that are "the worst of any 1st overall" are not even tallied up for a full season yet.

And then using Simon Nemec, who has played a total of 11 games, or Trisran Luneau who has played a total of 7 games, as a comparative when looking at PPG.

Is nasty, nasty work.

 

[417]

I don't like all this attention on myself. I don't want to have eight different conversations at the same time. Judging from flames and likes-on-flames, I know I'm not appreciated here. So please let's drop this topic and shift attention elsewhere. I want him to be the best player he can be even if I would've never drafted him with the 1OA pick and even though I don't "like" how he's been developed so far.

Right now, Slafkovsky with the benefit of a year's more of NHL training and NHL coaching over anyone in his cohort, is outproduced in PPG by four players and tied with a d-man, Nemec, for 5th. Given they're all rookies and he's the 1OA of this cohort I think that's behind. He's also behind all four 2023 draftees who are rookies in the NHL this year.

Some would say that it's a marathon not a sprint, I disagree. The biggest benefit of drafting TopX is to quickly inject high-end talent into a roster. I really don't like "long-term projects" and have elaborated on the perceived downsides many times. Just as we assume Slafkovsky will improve, and just as we excuse Slafkovsky's poor production thus far to adaptation/linemates/bad-luck, we have to assume Jiricek, Nemec, and Cooley (and Wright, and Minty, and Poitras) will improve and adapt too. Slaf is not ahead of his own draft cohort despite being the first picked among them.

So there are two tracks: 1) his net contribution to the Habs' fate and 2) his contribution compared to his cohort. If he helps the Habs win games, he'll have to score more too. That's all that matters really. But to assess the judgement of Bobrov, Gorton and others we'll have to see if Slafkovsky stands out against his cohort too... he doesn't have to be first ranked but he's behind d-men and 2nd round picks... that's not good. 75% of my criticism and mistrust is directed at the Habs organization.

Nasty work.

 

[ReHabs]

Amen! Unlike what someone else said, he deserves the ganging up on. He's relentless. His points that are "the worst of any 1st overall" are not even tallied up for a full season yet.

Try being civilized and honest.

 

[Naslundforever]

We won't know the truth until 2030.

But the game talks to you mate, the truth is out there. There is only what is actual.

 

[Guy Larose]

Try being civilized and honest.

Says the person who relentlessly bashes a 19 year old...

 

[Kennerback]

I tried to read that, was a bit too fluffy from me (and I typically enjoy his articles)

But what I got from that is Juraj’s ability to apply what he's being taught. He's very coachable and when you look at his size/skill package and you add that receptiveness to coaching…

You can see why they picked him, he has a huge capacity to learn and get better.

Slaf’s been killing it since he’s been a kid. And all the great things about him today where there for years.

But his two Achille’s heels didn’t start in the NHL either. In other articles, Slovak coaching discuss ad nauseam his propensity to stop shooting and always pass. But they also picked up right away the other elephant in the room, his shot release.

«Après le tournoi, nous avons eu une discussion. Je lui ai dit de travailler sur la vitesse avec laquelle il décochait ses tirs. La puissance de son lancer était bonne, mais il mettait trop de temps avant de faire décoller la rondelle de sur sa palette. Je l’ai senti réceptif. Nous nous sommes quittés là-dessus.»

So people had already told him it was deficient before. He worked on it but it obviously is still not enough for the NHL.

The stick has to travel much further to get the puck off when you are a big man than Caufield or other small players. And it’s a lot harder to mask the release. That means working doubly hard to come up with a release that works in the NHL. He now needs a much more efficient training regimen and the club absolutely has to get involved as what he did on his own was insufficient.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Agree completely. Cooley needed only 10 NHL games before he was hailed as the pick-that-got-away. Two months later, Slafkovsky has been outplaying and outproducing him. So much for the many Nostradraftuses on this board. A reminder the Best Pick of 2022 wasn't decided in October, nor has it been decided now.

For now, I'm still cautious about Slafkovsky – happy to see the obvious improvement in his game, but not giving my holiday chocolate to our scouts just yet. I'm thinking long-term and I'm being patient, but I still expect the fruit of our suckage to become an impact player.

As most have been saying since day one, we won’t know the answer for years.

 

[Habssince89]

Thompson and Byfield didn't take awhile…fans are just impatient.

agreed. 'a while' sounds like we're talking about late bloomers, where the players in question sound like they developed right on time.