Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[Jaynki]

He's had like 5 scoring chances tonight. He's all over the ice man

If he played AHL last year, he surely would have 12 by now.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Still waiting for LafleursGuy to post the list of users who wanted the Habs to draft Shane Wright that are now complaining that we didn’t draft slogan Cooley.

Things are easy to claim, but backing it up seems to be a bit more difficult.

@WeThreeKings showed some of us the way. @Goldenhands was pretty based with his analysis of Wright

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Still waiting for LafleursGuy to post the list of users who wanted the Habs to draft Shane Wright that are now complaining that we didn’t draft slogan Cooley.

Things are easy to claim, but backing it up seems to be a bit more difficult.

They know who they are. I’m not posting a list.

And no, it’s not difficult to back up either.

Watch for it yourself. They’re out there.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He's had like 5 scoring chances tonight. He's all over the ice man

Nice.

Sadly I missed this one. Looking forward to the summary from folks.

 

[Gustave]

.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

.

Indeed!

 

[Gustave]

Indeed!

A strong contribution to the heep of trash
( I posted in the wrong thread a comment on the game )

 

[Ozmodiar]

Jack Hughes, KK:
2 players who should be left out of the Slaf discussion. Opposite ends of the spectrum.

JH showed elite attributes as early as his unsuccessful rookie season - skating and puck handling ability. He was just bad defensively, played with Miles Wood, and was 168 pounds.

KK … what’s the opposite of elite? lol

I think Slaf will be very good at most things - puck handling, skating, finishing, puck protection, passing - but not elite in any particular skillset. Well rounded player in a huge body. Hopefully a 1st line player.

 

[Habssince89]

Jack Hughes, KK:
2 players who should be left out of the Slaf discussion. Opposite ends of the spectrum.

JH showed elite attributes as early as his unsuccessful rookie season - skating and puck handling ability. He was just bad defensively, played with Miles Wood, and was 168 pounds.

KK … what’s the opposite of elite? lol

I think Slaf will be very good at most things - puck handling, skating, finishing, puck protection, passing - but not elite in any particular skillset. Well rounded player in a huge body. Hopefully a 1st line player.

I think that's a fair assessment of slaf but he does seem to possess the will to get better, something MSL was known for, and I think slaf is a really determined guy. It wouldn't surprise me if he just kept improving into his 20s. The guy is not even in his 20s and his humility and drive is evident.

 

[Ozmodiar]

He's had like 5 scoring chances tonight. He's all over the ice man

Solid game. Looked good with Dach. That could stick.

 

[DAChampion]

Watched a bit, he was on fire in the second period, might just be his chemistry with Dach im not sure.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

This preseason game alone is worth far more than all those scrimmages, but that won't stop people from continuing to give shitty hot takes after scrimmage games.

Rinse and repeat each year.

 

[BLONG7]

"If he ends up just better than Josh Anderson, i will take it at this point."

We are 4.5 period into preseason and you just know some are abouut to eat the mother of all crow.

We have far too many fans who have no idea on what having some patience means.....

Good game tonight............remember what MSL said, the kid needs some confidence. He can build off of that tonight...

 

[River Meadow]

To anyone who has ever doubted Slafkovsky ever before.

Well...................... Any Questions?




#BOOM!!!!!!!!!

 

[Paddyjack]

Watched a bit, he was on fire in the second period, might just be his chemistry with Dach im not sure.

I think Slaf is better suited with Dach than with Newhook and Anderson. Dach plays with the puck, is patient and process the game while Newhook and Anderson were using their speed and Slaf couldn't keep up with them.

 

[Miller Time]

Good game for his confidence.
Hopefully start of a great pre-season for him. Would be nice to see him start the season with a bit of swagger

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Other than the dumb tripping penalty which could have been costly, he had a great game. Really hope the chemistry with Dach is for real. They could give us two great duos in the top 6 which is what you want.

 

[NobleSix]

I thought he played great tonight. He'll be a real good player for us once he puts it all together.

 

[G0bias]

There was all this talk of him learning from the Tkachuks, Rantanen (or Anderson last year lol)

While all this time he has in Dach the exact kind of profile you'd want Slaf to learn from and emulate.

 

[admiralcadillac]

There is an opportunity cost to keeping Slaf in the NHL on the hopes of a good D+2/Sophomore NHL season.

That’s the underlying debate here. What is better approach for this specific player and our best interests?

We can disagree in good faith but at this juncture I think preseason has to be evaluated with honesty. Some said Slaf was amazing last game, others said he was lost as always. If we have the same expectations for him, maybe the discourse will be less extreme and irritating to everyone. I get plenty irritated when I read comparison of him and Jack Hughes when they had nowhere the same pedigree or D+1 performance.

Will you treat today’s game with honesty? I have my doubts.

I don’t subscribe to this progression nor do I think it is a reasonable one for Slafkovsky in particular.

Slafkovsky the Project needs to come together and I believe it is more likely to successfully come together if he plays meaningful minutes in all roles. What supports my argument on the first page of this thread is MSL himself — they agreed he needs more puck touches. Most of us annoyed at his last season’s lack of success were annoyed that it was so avoidable: he was never going to dominate the puck in the NHL.

Now is the chance to put egos aside and work to get a meaningful and successful impact player out of Slafkovsky. I don’t believe he will develop the things he needs to develop (namely: playmaking and figuring out the game) even if he plays on the first line shotgun next to Suzuki.

I’m certain that your suggestion of sending Slafkovsky to Finland is « putting egos aside » - sounds like the type of thing Babcock would say to a player before destroying their lives.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Keep your head up, show some good on ice vision, use your big body to win board battles and wear down the other team. Show you belong. 15G 15A would be a great progression offense wise

I think he did exactly that tonight.

 

[Jack Skellington]

There was all this talk of him learning from the Tkachuks, Rantanen (or Anderson last year lol)

While all this time he has in Dach the exact kind of profile you'd want Slaf to learn from and emulate.

I would be force feeding him clips of Thrashers Kovalchuk.

 

[Naslundforever]

Loved his rush up the right wing. Played a good heads up game; looked like an nhler to me.

 

[Demigod Gloves]

Looked good tonight vs an ahl roster, didnt look out of pace, exactly why I hope he stays in the ahl all year logging minutes and getting lots of PP time.

 

[Hullois]

Some people on here forget the kid is 19.. i hope the fanbase will finally show some patience with a high end prospect. He's gonna be a beast at 22-23