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

[JimmyApples]

He looked…not great last night. Noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Don’t know if you can say Habs made a mistake at No. 1, cause it just looks like a terrible draft in general.

 

[vildurson]

He looked…not great last night. Noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Don’t know if you can say Habs made a mistake at No. 1, cause it just looks like a terrible draft in general.

It was pretty well known that this draft was weaker than "usual" though. This year's draft should be really strong.

 

[schnapshot]

He’s just not ready for the NHL yet. And that’s okay.

 

[Colezuki]

Has he busted yet? Jus kidding.

Seriously how’s he looking out there.

Hit and Miss, his best game was against the leafs the other night, last night wasn't as great but there are two factors to consider.

1) New line mates, was playing with Nick and Cole, up until now he's been with Dach and Hoffman,
2) was one of the few players on both teams playing 2 games in 2 nights

You can see that when he's on the talent is undeniable, against the leafs it was between him and Dach for best forward and if he had a bit better puck luck he may have scored 2 to go with his assist. When he's off though he's not in the right spot defensively and is lagging the play. What is positive is that he seems to be a quick study and in his previous teams he has consistently "figured it out" and starts taking off mid-season.

He'll likely end up a RNH like 1st overall, a top line winger but not superstar which is what he was projected to be.

He looked…not great last night. Noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Don’t know if you can say Habs made a mistake at No. 1, cause it just looks like a terrible draft in general

See above, was one of the few who played 2 in 2 and was playing with new linemates, you'll see him a couple more times before the season starts would be curious to get your feedback then.

 

[Jukurit]

Slaf looked like a 3rd liner last season in Liiga, so if he's not ready to be an NHL player after 1 off-season, that's hardly surprising.

 

[cudi]

getting some rick nash vibes off slaf. huge players who leave fans wanting more physically even if thats not really their game. use their body more for shielding the puck for the finesse game they like to play.

 

[GM Armchair]

how this guy went 1OA is a a head scratcher. Best of luck with the project Montreal.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I think the AHL is perfect for him this year,

 

[ijuka]

I hope that he goes back to Finland for a year. He will play top line, World Juniors, World Championship. Pettersson, Rantanen and Heiskanen all stayed in Finland for their D+1 year and look how well they developed. No need to rush him. No need to rush him.

Rantanen did not play in Finland. He played in AHL after draft, scored over 1 point per game, and then had a great NHL career.

Slafkovsky would probably hope for a similar trajectory. They're both from TPS, too. Rantanen also was a pretty poor skater, but he quickly improved. Slafkovsky will have to do the same.

how this guy went 1OA is a a head scratcher. Best of luck with the project Montreal.

Overrating small sample size, chaotic international matches, and size. I guess. But unlike with Kaapo Kakko, Slafkovsky didn't even look dominant in Liiga, so for him it was purely due to international play.

He’s absolutely a north south type player to me. He’s not physical because he doesn’t engage in physicality especially in the defensive zone. He’s almost invisible in the defensive zone or simply does not engage defensively.

I don’t think he clearly is a skill player though. He attempts to play like one at times. But, I don’t think he’ll find as much success in that area in the NHL. He doesn’t have phenomenal hands or speed. Everything he does is simply powerful. He’s a freight train.

He was a first overall pick because of his size and goal scoring potential. His true potential in my opinion lies in his potential to be a guy who can force turnovers along the boards using his size, drive to the net using his phenomenal poise, and be a shooting option near the circle. He’s not going to be a finesse player to me.

He’s all the potential of a true power forward.

Yes, he attempts to play as a skill player - plays as a skill player.

Just being big doesn't make one a power forward, LAK is still struggling to come to terms with that regarding Quinton Byfield. At least when I watched him last season, Slafkovsky didn't play like a power forward.

I also am not really sure about this mythical goal-scoring potential. In Liiga he scored 7 goals in 49 games. I guess he scored many goals in Olympics, but that probably was a fluke. He can probably score goals just fine but is hardly a sniper.

If he becomes a goal-scorer, it probably will be on the level of someone like James van Riemsdyk. 30 goals or so. Rantanen is a 30-goal scorer too,

 

[JohnLennon]

how this guy went 1OA is a a head scratcher. Best of luck with the project Montreal.

HFBoards in a nutshell, right here.

Is it truly a head scratcher, "GM Armchair"?

getting some rick nash vibes off slaf. huge players who leave fans wanting more physically even if thats not really their game. use their body more for shielding the puck for the finesse game they like to play.

I agree, Slafkovsky looks to project to a guy like Nash or Rantanen as the higher upside, or Puljujarvi as a more conservative projection. All depends on which skills he can hone and how much his skating can improve. If he somehow implicates himself physically more often, he could be a gem with those hands and that size.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

This seems good.

Monahan is on the Habs?? I keep forgetting and still find that weird. I see that his numbers still look awful on the other side of the continent.

I think the AHL is perfect for him this year,

Even if he's ready for the NHL...do fans really want him around a team that's tanking? Might not be a great atmosphere to develop in.

 

[Captain97]

Has he busted yet? Jus kidding.

Seriously how’s he looking out there.

Mixed reviews, looked good in rookie tournament. Has a really good preseason game, had a couple meh ones, and a couple where if he was normal sized you wouldn't really have known he was playing.

He has looked really good in internal scrims as well.

Overall I'd say a very "just okay" camp, likely trending towards Laval. Prbly gets a few regular season games to start and try to prove he is just adjusting to NA though.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

One semi-random thought: while I would start him in Laval, and possibly give him most of the season there, I would not be concerned with burning a year off his ELC. He is a player where the team might benefit from the ELC kicking in earlier rather than later. Not to say they should do it for that reason... but if 15 games (for example) is what's best for him, that's what I would give him. If 10 games is what's best, I would do that. And so on.

 

[ffh]

unfortunately, they won't want to get savaged by the press so as long as wright is in seattle slaf will remain in montreal even if he isnt playing.

 

[jfhabs]

He looked…not great last night. Noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Don’t know if you can say Habs made a mistake at No. 1, cause it just looks like a terrible draft in general.

Yeah, I think the talent at the top was bad in comparaison to other draft years. However I think there will be some good players coming out of that draft. He wasn't my personal pick at 1, but I didn't really care between him, Wright, Cooley and Nemec. 2 games in 2 nights and they had him played the most out of any players one the Habs, defenseman included. Playing against the Sens top line all night... yeah he didn't look too good. You can see he has the tools, but everything is going a bit too fast right now for him. Seems like he's not used to players being able to move him physically.

 

[Martinez89]

how this guy went 1OA is a a head scratcher. Best of luck with the project Montreal.

....

Overrating small sample size, chaotic international matches, and size.

OK guys, you´re probably the best scouts in the world. Basically no hockey has been played since the draft and you already know his 1 OA selection was a stupidity. So tell me who would be the better choice for Montreal? You probably know better than me because I don´t see any prospect from 2022 draft who is NHL ready. So tell me who? Cutter Gauthier? Matt Savoie? Shane Wright?

And my next question is when was the last time when any 18 y.o. player was immediately impactful and fully NHL ready? I would say in 2016, Patrik Laine. So this is a really rarity and I´m really not sure why you expected Slafkovsky to be a star player from day one... otherwise he is a head scratcher for 1 OA selection.

He´s 18 and he´s inconsitent, of course. Obviously he had weaker games but he had also games where he showed he can be the best player of his team (against Buffalo in develompent tourney, in team scrimmages and against the Leafs). He has tremendous potential and right now one more year in AHL is the best option for him. It´s no shame, there is no other 18 y.o. NHL ready prospect in the world...

 

[kabidjan18]

They're both from TPS, too. Rantanen also was a pretty poor skater, but he quickly improved. Slafkovsky will have to do the same.

I think to say Rantanen was a poor skater at TPS is a stretch, if not simply wrong. At an absolute minimum, he was a poor skater, but still a much better skater than Slafkovsky.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

how this guy went 1OA is a a head scratcher. Best of luck with the project Montreal.

Username checks out

 

[jfhabs]

I think to say Rantanen was a poor skater at TPS is a stretch, if not simply wrong. At an absolute minimum, he was a poor skater, but still a much better skater than Slafkovsky.

Slafkovsky isn't a bad skate for his size.
However, I think he might ' ve put a bit too much weight on in the summer and needs to grow into his frame a bit.
He's not a fast skater, but his stride is powerful.

 

[bossram]

There's nothing wrong with leaving him in Laval for the season and re-evaluating.

I don't think he should have been the 1st overall pick, but I do think he'll be a very good NHLer. He needs to learn pro habits though. Let him develop.

 

[NyQuil]

I think he was pretty noticeable last night - it's not as if he was invisible. He was involved in the play a lot and his name was called upon frequently.

He got some good looks but missed the net high it seemed quite often. He puts one or two of those in and everyone is talking about him.

Still a bit raw and a project but there's definitely something there. It's always tough to live up to that draft position and some of the generational comparables that were drafted first overall but if you can set that aside I think there's something intriguing there.

 

[Byrral]

Read a couple of prior pages to see how he's doing. I see that an 18 year old is already a bust to some after one training camp where he's struggling. The horror of it all.

 

[93LEAFS]

I hope that he goes back to Finland for a year. He will play top line, World Juniors, World Championship. Pettersson, Rantanen and Heiskanen all stayed in Finland for their D+1 year and look how well they developed. No need to rush him. No need to rush him.

Rantanen played his D+1 season in the AHL after getting a taste of the NHL before he burned his ELC. Pettersson played in Sweden, and actually moved up a level in his D+1 because his draft season was in the Allsvenskan and he changed teams to play SHL the next year.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Read a couple of prior pages to see how he's doing. I see that an 18 year old is already a bust to some after one training camp where he's struggling. The horror of it all.

A few comments by a small minority of people don‘t speak for the masses:

 

[Karl Eriksson]

He just needs a couple years of seasoning in Hamilton