Juraj Slafkovsky - Year Two

[Mrb1p]

And I've been advocating for him to go to Laval. And have the type of offensive chances there first. To get them here after. But it seems that it makes me a Slaf hater.

The overly defensive nancies are really friggin annoying and drive the narrative around here. Im not sure why its allowed, if Im honest.

 

[Mrb1p]

Is Brendan Gallagher a much better offensive player than Slaf is right now? Because that's really the only variable that matters.

I only brought up Logan Cooley because other NHL teams don't do this kind of deployment.

I despise bringing young players along by teaspoon feeding them ice time. If he's here, then he needs to play and be considered as a critical element of the top 6 and one of the players you lean on offensively.

If no, then I agree with the overall sentiment that he should be in Laval.

It's the in-between nonsense that's "ruined" players most often in Montreal and most of the time, it's in preference of players who are washed or just not good. It doesn't serve anyone but placate to old hockey addages that young players need to sit and learn.

Hes not good enough to be a critical element. He should be in the AHL.

With that said, Id rather they fake it til he makes it and actually use him in easier situations like the PP rather than whatever it is they're doing with him.

Before you say it, neither is Gallagher.

 

[BLONG7]

The overly defensive nancies are really friggin annoying and drive the narrative around here. Im not sure why its allowed, if Im honest.

Opinions, are just that........it's a long season. See where it all take us...

 

[Habs Halifax]

The only reason it work is because KK didn’t want to sign in MTL, didn’t even return MB call. If MTL match they couldn’t trade him and he was going to be in the exact situation the next season and do the same think… I hate the guy but if he had KK vs. Dvorak we would be a way better situation but as soon as he accepted the OS it was done… Just horrible management, he should not even have been eligible for a OS to start with, than we should have prioritize the top prospect vs. Staal or a coach that no other player wanted to play for.

Yeah, it was not a good offseason for Bergevin. Decides to let Danault walk (he was miss managed too) and then signed Gallagher, Armia, and Hoffman instead. KK offer sheet put him in a tough spot for center depth and we should have matched. Regardless of how much KK would was disgruntled with Ducharme/Julien.

The situation with KK/Canes was created by the weak Aho offer sheet. Anyways, this is the Slaf thread. Move on time

 

[BLONG7]

Yeah, it was not a good offseason for Bergevin. Decides to let Danault walk (he was miss managed too) and then signed Gallagher, Armia, and Hoffman instead. KK offer sheet put him in a tough spot for center depth and we should have matched. Regardless of how much KK would was disgruntled with Ducharme/Julien.

The situation with KK/Canes was created by the weak Aho offer sheet. Anyways, this is the Slaf thread. Move on time

Bergevin had many not so good offseasons..............started in 2017, and it never stopped.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Bergevin had many not so good offseasons..............started in 2017, and it never stopped.

His worse two are the Vegas and Seattle expansion draft off seasons. Those two stick out more than the others IMO (2017 and 2021). Whenever he has a large to do list, it was not good.

I'm personally the type to call out both the bad and good. Bergevin and Timmins did have good drafts from 2017+. That shouldn't be brushed under the rug because of all the other errors Bergevin made. That's how I see it anyways. I am not the type to alienate anybody... regardless of how good or bad they are with anything.

 

[salbutera]

I believe in Slaf but which 1st oa picks looked as meh as him in their first 45 games? Sadly, the ones that were disappointing. I'm not talking production. Not much happens with him on the ice. Like the @cave troll says ^, Cooley runs a PP and looks so dynamic while Slaf struggles to hold the puck for 5 seconds straight and has a couple ok scoring chances a game. What is this collective delusion that he "looks good"? He looks like a warm body.

Cooley’s TOI has dropped consistently after game 2 - going from 19-min to 15-min last night

 

[salbutera]

weakest draft? says who? you? We will know that in 5 years buddy! these kids are 18 years old and its a mystery box for now. Slaf may as well be one of the best LW of all time and a few more 1st rounders may as well explose like kucherov, robertson etc!

Every management type, scout and talking head leading up to 2022 draft. All were unanimous there was no elite talent at top end of the draft, many calling it the weakest since 2000.

Even last week Corey Pronman in his article on The Athletic placed Slaf still as 1OA for 2022 draft stating:

2022 NHL Draft, was a contentious draft right from the No. 1 pick. It had an uncertain top of the draft a year ago this time, and it remains uncertain.

The top of the draft defines a class typically. A strong top moves a typical No. 5 pick to about No. 7 or No. 8 and so on, whereas a weak top forces that type of player to go No. 2 or No. 3. You see that in play between these two drafts, whereas 2023 would be an above-average top of the draft, and 2022 a below-average.

 

[Tabarouette]

Hes not good enough to be a critical element. He should be in the AHL.

With that said, Id rather they fake it til he makes it and actually use him in easier situations like the PP rather than whatever it is they're doing with him.

Before you say it, neither is Gallagher.

Gallagher scored twice lately, he's back baby

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

This thread keeps on giving and entertaining my lame ass.

It's way too early to label Slafkovsky as a bad 1st overall pick, and it serves little purpose to point at Slafkovsky's development and improved play from last year, as if that wouldn't occur on its own (no matter the league he played).

Can both sides agree to a cease-fire, and reconvene after a certain amount of games played to evaluate and discuss Slafkovsky's play and progression?

You'd be better off wishing for the winning lottery numbers, buddy

Slaf’s whole schtick consists in playing a subtle game of “keep away”. The other team’s net is not even part of the decision-making equation in his brain. He declines to exploit 3 out 4 scoring opportunities. A prime example last night was giving up all that time and space in the slot to make a weak pass to the D a few feet behind him who’s in a much less favorable position.

Scared of making a mistake.

We've seen this before, from other young players.

 

[morhilane]

Not sure whose called you a Slafkovsky hater, I've known you for a long time and it's not your style, so I wouldn't pay to much attention to that.

I personally prefer for him to play in Montreal, but if this is how they're going to use him, then I prefer he go to Laval - though there's no guarantee JF Houle is going to deploy in favourable situations either mind you.

Just very annoyed to see we’re pulling our goalie down not 1 but 2 goals and Brendan Gallagher is on the ice.

Especially last night given he was having a good game and had a career high in ice time (for a reason I presume).

Pezz was benched in the second half of the 3rd period and Slaf was double shifted on the 4th to replace him before the goalie was removed. Also, the 3 minutes of PP since PP2 played a few more seconds than PP1 in the game.

 

[Mrb1p]

scouts cant predict the futur. They also f*** up alot more than we think, for example Zadina, Puuljuarvi, KoTKANIEMI, yakupov, galchenyuk, the list goes on

Yeah by the looks of it Kotkaniemi should've went 2nd overall. Hes 2nd in the NHL for production by a 2018 draftee.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Yeah by the looks of it Kotkaniemi should've went 2nd overall. Hes 2nd in the NHL for production by a 2018 draftee.

For the first 7 games this year?

Career to date - 5th in total points and 10th in points per game.

 

[Trabdy2]

Slafkovsky needs to find ways of getting to the inside in the O zone. He's a very good skater with a big body and long reach; he can use those tools to his advantage in finding and creating space on the inside with the puck. His effectiveness is going to be limited until he finds a way to do that consistently, and it's all going to depend on his IQ and his decision-making development. His passing and shooting skills, along with his playmaking instincts, just aren't good enough for him to be highly effective offensively from the perimeter.

 

[Ezpz]

also cooley is 5'10 170 pounds, its normal that hes going to be faster than Slaf at such a young age. The future will tell us if Slaf becomes a top 5 LW in the league

I don't think there's many examples of guys who showed this little that exploded later but I also don't think guys like Slaf usually make the league at 18 or 19. I still feel like he should have stayed in Europe or the AHL a year. We're fast tracking off his elc and to free agency when he isn't even NHL caliber yet. If he explodes at 24 he'll be an UFA one year later.

Gorton and Bobrov have an awful track record with top picks and rushing them. Just as bad as Bergevin.

 

[Pazucha]

Pezz was benched in the second half of the 3rd period and Slaf was double shifted on the 4th to replace him before the goalie was removed. Also, the 3 minutes of PP since PP2 played a few more seconds than PP1 in the game.

Pezzeta played way to good to be benched after only 6 minutes :/

PP2 played more time than PP1 this game? Do you have any stats for that? Or are you talking only about the third period?

 

[Frank Drebin]

Cooley has 5 pp assists on his total of 5 pts. Also, a total of 5 shots in 6 games despite an average TOI of 17:39 (4 minutes of that is PP time).

Slaf has 6 shots in 6 games on an average TOI of 14:50 (under 2 minutes of that is PP time).

Bedard only has 1 pp point (a goal) and 4 pts in 7 games so far.

It's going to be a long seasons for all of them...

If Bedard had zero points no one would be worried about him because he looked phenomenal, at least when Chicago played Montreal.

Slaf has never looked phenomenal.

 

[WeThreeKings]

If Bedard had zero points no one would be worried about him because he looked phenomenal, at least when Chicago played Montreal.

Slaf has never looked phenomenal.

I can guarantee you that this board would be in a full blown melt down over Bedard's performances to date.

WAHHH THE ONE TIME WE GET A 1ST OVERALL WITH A GENERATIONAL TALENT AND HE'S BASICALLY LAFRENIERE, WAHHHH

 

[Pazucha]

ReHabs would send Bedard to the ECHL the next day

 

[ReHabs]

I can guarantee you that this board would be in a full blown melt down over Bedard's performances to date.

WAHHH THE ONE TIME WE GET A 1ST OVERALL WITH A GENERATIONAL TALENT AND HE'S BASICALLY LAFRENIERE, WAHHHH

I’ve never seen this person make a coherent comment. Is it always meta, soapbox grandstanding commentary?

If Slafkovsky had the pedigree Galchenyuk had (much less Shane Wright or Conor Bedard) he would get years and years of rope. But he doesn’t. Slaf is a very red flag riddled player, so naturally he doesn’t have much faith from the commentary community… because beating Team Kazakhstan doesn’t impress anybody. Because his resume does not encourage blind faith.

ReHabs would send Bedard to the ECHL the next day

Don’t be upset I’m 100% right about Slaf. My prescience about the situation doesn’t mean I want him to fail.

I want the Habs to stop shooting themselves in the foot. I hate tanking, I want to see playoff runs.

 

[Mrb1p]

I’ve never seen this person make a coherent comment. Is it always meta, soapbox grandstanding commentary?

If Slafkovsky had the pedigree Galchenyuk had (much less Shane Wright or Conor Bedard) he would get years and years of rope. But he doesn’t. Slaf is a very red flag riddled player, so naturally he doesn’t have much faith from the commentary community… because beating Team Kazakhstan doesn’t impress anybody. Because his resume does not encourage blind faith.


Don’t be upset I’m 100% right about Slaf. My prescience about the situation doesn’t mean I want him to fail.

This guy is exactly what he says I am. Quite funny.

 

[ReHabs]

Slaf has never looked phenomenal.

I’ve never seen a topX talent look this not-phenomenal. Never once. Not even Kotkaniemi and he was among the worst I’ve personally seen (because he was rushed).

 

[Habs]

He's no Cooley, this team deserves every ounce of misery it gets and never learns. Oh noes, here come all the Slaf fans with highlights from the Olympics and his cooking special to hurt my feelings.

 

[tazsub3]

Seems I am watching a different game then most .
I am extremely encouraged by how he looked . He making passes , controlling the puck , laying the body and back checking and all that while losing the center he was playing well with .
It is todays world of instant gratification the problem. Just be patient and enjoy the ride . Kid will be an awesome player .

 

[Kennerback]

Slafkovsky needs to find ways of getting to the inside in the O zone. He's a very good skater with a big body and long reach; he can use those tools to his advantage in finding and creating space on the inside with the puck. His effectiveness is going to be limited until he finds a way to do that consistently, and it's all going to depend on his IQ and his decision-making development. His passing and shooting skills, along with his playmaking instincts, just aren't good enough for him to be highly effective offensively from the perimeter.

Agree 100%. This is the difference between him staying a career 3rd liner and becoming a Top-6.
It’s also why I wonder what he could learn in Laval. Is he going to suddenly decide that he needs to go to the slot with the puck? He can physically do it. He just chooses not to. Is he going to listen to Houle more than MSL?