LW Juraj Slafkovsky (2022, 1st, MTL) Part 3

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Mete was rushed though if you want to add to the list. Rushing players has never worked for this franchise yet we are doing it again with this kid. Every ''prospect becomes a good NHLer" success story we have had in the last 2 decades, the player has usually spent at least 2 years post-draft outside of the NHL.

And again, if Slaf is sent from the WJC and is playing with Slovakia from day 1 of the tournament, the Slovakia-Canada very likely matchup doesn't happen in the QF and they may have never faced Canada. The pool Slovakia was in was incredibly tight, they most likely beat the Swiss and finish 1st or 2nd if they have Slaf.

 

[jfhabs]

Montreal really missed the boat sending Slafkovsky down to the World Juniors to help Slovakia make a run...the way he is playing in Montreal he could have used going to the World Juniors and being the man with his team...if Slovakia had a guy like him in the Canada game i do not think Canada would have beat them. I think he could have used to the world juniors to gain some confidence and get sent to AHL right after that...

IMO he was not ready for the NHL and if Montreal wants to keep him up they risk ruining him in my eyes.....I think the kid has a lot of holes in his game he needs to work on...AHL is where he can work on these holes...he really needs to be put in a situation where the game is a little slower, a little less skilled to allow for him to start adjusting.

I think it's clear now they should have sent him. The team went thru 7 consecutive losts during that time.... but at the time it was a more difficult decision. Slafkovsky was playing better, I think he had 6 pts in his last 8 games, and the team was competing being 6-7 pts outside the playoffs.

 

[montreal]

Juulsen ?
He was not rushed at all. He was nhl ready when brought up and had a freak injury.

Juulsen was rushed, at 20 he was injured early on and when they sent him down he was great defensively but had almost zero offense, he just started to put some points up and then they called him up, way too soon imo. But his defensive game in the AHL was looking great, in the NHL his lack of mobility would expose him but if he kept working on it perhaps he could have been a solid bottom pairing or even 7th D. Always liked him though as he works hard, plays physical, just had big concerns about the skating/speed/mobility. Now I'm just glad he's healthy and playing.

 

[frederixx]

Montreal really missed the boat sending Slafkovsky down to the World Juniors to help Slovakia make a run...the way he is playing in Montreal he could have used going to the World Juniors and being the man with his team...if Slovakia had a guy like him in the Canada game i do not think Canada would have beat them. I think he could have used to the world juniors to gain some confidence and get sent to AHL right after that...

IMO he was not ready for the NHL and if Montreal wants to keep him up they risk ruining him in my eyes.....I think the kid has a lot of holes in his game he needs to work on...AHL is where he can work on these holes...he really needs to be put in a situation where the game is a little slower, a little less skilled to allow for him to start adjusting.

Exactly.

I thought they would do a lot better handling their youngsters than the old management group, yet, they seem to be even worst. After Kakko and Lafreniere, Gorton is doing the same pattern with Slaf. Playing on the 4th line of an awful team and burning the first year of his contract doing so, really?

 

[wetcoast]

Exactly.

I thought they would do a lot better handling their youngsters than the old management group, yet, they seem to be even worst. After Kakko and Lafreniere, Gorton is doing the same pattern with Slaf. Playing on the 4th line of an awful team and burning the first year of his contract doing so, really?

Agree 100% here.

I also would have considered taking Jiricek at #1 as he looked like one of those near locks for being a better NHL player than he was as a prospect.

 

[jfhabs]

Juulsen was rushed, at 20 he was injured early on and when they sent him down he was great defensively but had almost zero offense, he just started to put some points up and then they called him up, way too soon imo. But his defensive game in the AHL was looking great, in the NHL his lack of mobility would expose him but if he kept working on it perhaps he could have been a solid bottom pairing or even 7th D. Always liked him though as he works hard, plays physical, just had big concerns about the skating/speed/mobility. Now I'm just glad he's healthy and playing.

Possibly, but we'll never know. Many players figure it out in the NHL while being very green. His injury derailed his career, so we'll never really know if he could've figure it out or be in the 'up too soon' crowd. Generally speaking, I'm in the camp of : you can never be in the AHL/Europe/Junior for too long.

 

[Wildabeast]

Exactly.

I thought they would do a lot better handling their youngsters than the old management group, yet, they seem to be even worst. After Kakko and Lafreniere, Gorton is doing the same pattern with Slaf. Playing on the 4th line of an awful team and burning the first year of his contract doing so, really?

Neutral fan but yeah, it makes absolutely no sense. Really strange mis-management of your future prized asset, and quite honestly shocking to me personally at least.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

We rush players to sell tickets. Winning hasn't been first in Montreal for quite some time, especially since Molson bought the team.

Not saying we are ruinning Slaf but we always sell out the barn while icing absolutely mediocre teams for 2 decades so why would they stop now.

That said Hughes and Gorton have nothing to do with MTL's past and for the first time ever fans and media are accepting a rebuild so I'm not sure why they are keeping Slaf up it's puzzling

 

[Jeffrey Pedler]

A player either has it or he doesn't. The true test will be his second and third years, to see if he has improved.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

A player either has it or he doesn't. The true test will be his second and third years, to see if he has improved.

I have to agree to an extent, people blame mtl for KK and galchenyuk but they just didn't improve - its not all on management , if anything the KK pick is to be blamed on who they drafted, not how he was deployed.

Guys like Barkov and Svechnikov were pretty below average at 18 but made the necessary improvements to become stars - development is real but so is a players ability to improve in their own Right.

Having said that, I think Slaf belongs in the AHL now

 

[JohnLennon]

I have to agree to an extent, people blame mtl for KK and galchenyuk but they just didn't improve - its not all on management , if anything the KK pick is to be blamed on who they drafted, not how he was deployed.

Guys like Barkov and Svechnikov were pretty below average at 18 but made the necessary improvements to become stars - development is real but so is a players ability to improve in their own Right.

Having said that, I think Slaf belongs in the AHL now

Yup, people credit the player themselves when they benefit from playing in the NHL at 18 and go on to have great careers, but they blame management if the player plays at 18 but doesn't excel in the subsequent years.

It is all revisionist history - everyone just buys into the "never rush a player" mantra that Detroit used to abide by religiously like a decade or two ago.

 

[HabsForHire]

It's not something the "Habs" do. It has to do with the decision makers, which are different from 2 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago... It's a new regime, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

It's 100% a habs thing, Shiny new toy syndrome. We ALWAYS rush our top picks

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

It's 100% a habs thing, Shiny new toy syndrome. We ALWAYS rush our top picks

Yeah and im not sure why habs fans are defending habs history of developement when us habs fans are the ones who should be the most mad about how the team has been managed for the past few decades.

Habs don't deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to developing ANYBODY especially not from their own fans. Just my 2 cents

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Whenever I go back to the Habs portion of hfboards, I find two distinct parties:

1. Slafkovsky will continue to develop and get better at the NHL level because he is looking better and better

2. Slafkovsky needs to develop elsewhere, like the AHL, because he has flaws and/or the environment in Montreal is bad for development

After watching 40 games this year, I have zero clue what Party 1 is smoking. My guess is Slafkovsky's size and skill allows him to pull off some neat play or two every game, and that is enough to feed their position, but his consistency is not there at all and he is still one of their least effective players on most nights. I won't pretend to know if the Habs are approaching his development differently on a day to day basis compared to his predecessors, thus making the seemingly questionable decision to keep him up the right one, but I'm sick of pretending he is a legitimate, every day NHL player right now.

Disclaimer: I don't hate the pick at all, he was one of three players I would have been satisfied with at first overall (perhaps one of four if I was less of a coward on Mintyukov).

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Whenever I go back to the Habs portion of hfboards, I find two distinct parties:

1. Slafkovsky will continue to develop and get better at the NHL level because he is looking better and better

2. Slafkovsky needs to develop elsewhere, like the AHL, because he has flaws and/or something rather

After watching 40 games this year, I have zero clue what Party 1 is smoking. My guess is Slafkovsky's size and skill allows him to pull off some neat play or two every game, and that is enough to feed their position, but his consistency is not there at all and he is still one of their least effective players on most nights. I won't pretend to know if the Habs are approaching his development differently on a day to day basis compared to his predecessors, thus making the seemingly questionable decision to keep him up the right one, but I'm sick of pretending he is a legitimate, every day NHL player right now.

Disclaimer: I don't hate the pick at all, he was one of three players I would have been satisfied with at first overall (perhaps one of four if I was less of a coward on Mintyukov).

The bolded is what our management seems to be preaching, getting help from the likes of MSL and Lecavalier up with the big club. You can tell he makes strides in certain aspects of the game little by little , like keeping his head up and his boardplay has been better but overall he has stagnated in the past 10-15 games imo. He is not transporting the puck enough and barely has it on his stick at 5 on 5

 

[JohnLennon]

I'm sure the Habs coaching and development staff are using internal markers that indicate the progression they're looking for in Slafkovsky, but we won't ever know regardless, as they would never disclose such information.

I agree, though, that Slafkovsky - like the rest of the team - hasn't looked as good in the last month. However, I also wonder if they want him to get through this adversity while in the NHL and continue coaching/teaching him through it in the big league instead of sending him down. They specifically said they'd send him to the AHL when they feel he is no longer learning and growing, and so why should we doubt them? This could mean he stays up all season, or goes down this week.

As of right now, I'm still interested in seeing how far he can go with the likes of MSL, Lecavalier, Rob Ramage, Adam Nicholas and more by his side, but am completely open to him being demoted as well. There is little reason to doubt this group of staff members at the moment.

 

[Goon42]

I'm sure the Habs coaching and development staff are using internal markers that indicate the progression they're looking for in Slafkovsky, but we won't ever know regardless, as they would never disclose such information.

I agree, though, that Slafkovsky - like the rest of the team - hasn't looked as good in the last month. However, I also wonder if they want him to get through this adversity while in the NHL and continue coaching/teaching him through it in the big league instead of sending him down. They specifically said they'd send him to the AHL when they feel he is no longer learning and growing, and so why should we doubt them? This could mean he stays up all season, or goes down this week.

As of right now, I'm still interested in seeing how far he can go with the likes of MSL, Lecavalier, Rob Ramage, Adam Nicholas and more by his side, but am completely open to him being demoted as well. There is little reason to doubt this group of staff members at the moment.

Agreed but there is a reason to doubt Jeff Gorton at this point no? Kakko, laf, lias - slaf is trending to fit right in with that group unfortunately. Hopefully the staff you mentioned help build him up

 

[JohnLennon]

Agreed but there is a reason to doubt Jeff Gorton at this point no? Kakko, laf, lias - slaf is trending to fit right in with that group unfortunately. Hopefully the staff you mentioned help build him up

Totally fair point, however just as a counter-point to that: he also ran the 2006 Draft for the Bruins, which produced Kessel, Lucic and Marchand. For the Rangers, he also drafted K'Andre Miller, Nils Lundkvist, Zac Jones, Braden Schneider as well as the names you mentioned, so it isn't all bad in terms of drafting and development. But the slow progression of Laf, Kakko, Lias and Kravtsov are somewhat concerning nonetheless.

As you alluded to, if it truly is a fault of Gorton's, I hope the people he has surrounded himself with are able to support him well. I have heard remarkably good things about Adam Nicholas in particular. Other picks in the recent draft for the Habs seem pretty good so far (Mesar, Beck, Hutson, Engstrom), so I guess we will see!

 

[Not The One]

As a Habs fan (who hasn't really been following things this season). I have ZERO clue as to what our supposed "genius" new management is doing with Slaf. There is literally ZERO upside in having him play this season. With other players it was juniors vs the NHL but not with Slaf.

The only argument is that he should play in the NHL as a 1st overall pick but everyone knows this was a weak draft year. This shouldn't be held against Slaf or the Habs, but what are the chances he would be playing right now if he was an 8th overall pick. There was ZERO need to rush him and he was absolutely not needed on the team during the WJC. That would at least have allowed to gauge him against others at his own age.

If MB was making this decision our board would be howling...

 

[NHL Dude 120]

The idea that the first overall should be in the NHL is absolutely assasinine. If you're ready you're ready, if you aren't then you aren't.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Yeah it's weird how going 1st overall brings this expectation of playing in the NHL right away. If Slaf was in this draft he wouldn't be one of the first few picks and his development path would probably be different.

 

[ForsbergForever]

The idea that the first overall should be in the NHL is absolutely assasinine. If you're ready you're ready, if you aren't then you aren't.

If anything, I think this is the most persuasive argument for why the draft age needs to be pushed to at least 19 y/o. The top pick in the draft SHOULD be NHL ready, but the fact that it is becoming increasingly rare that they are (see: Hughes, Lafreniere, Power, Slafkovsky) means that it's not on the players but the league for having unreasonable expectations on players that were still legally children just months if not weeks before being selected.

 

[abo9]

We rush players to sell tickets. Winning hasn't been first in Montreal for quite some time, especially since Molson bought the team.

Not saying we are ruinning Slaf but we always sell out the barn while icing absolutely mediocre teams for 2 decades so why would they stop now.

That said Hughes and Gorton have nothing to do with MTL's past and for the first time ever fans and media are accepting a rebuild so I'm not sure why they are keeping Slaf up it's puzzling

Is the team still selling out? Its not only 20 years of mediocrity, its flat out 5 years of being absolute dogshit now.

I am for the rebuild, but I wouldnt pay the money they ask to see them play unless it was against a good team and I could aee like Matthews/McD in person.

Its weird though, properly developing their prospect would sell way more. Slaf busting isnt gonna help long term

 

[mouser]

40 games on the NHL roster now for Slaf, burned a year towards UFA status.

 

[BenchBrawl]

We won't know what he is until he's 22-23 years old. In 4-5 years.