LW Juraj Slafkovsky - TPS Turku, Liiga (2022, 1st, MTL) Part 2

[Takurcitee]

Also most productive player in tps had 0,7ppg so yeah and the main reason slafkovsky had such bad ppg was mainly cause in first 20 games he had 4points than he got 6 in next 10 after og so yeah he got much better after that, his first 20games in which he was mainly in checking line and didn't have enough confidence which changed after og and that immediately showed in his production and i am not making excuses just stating facts also don't think he should be 1st overall but he might very likely be best player in redraft in 5 years

 

[Hisch13r]

Also most productive player in tps had 0,7ppg so yeah and the main reason slafkovsky had such bad ppg was mainly cause in first 20 games he had 4points than he got 6 in next 10 after og so yeah he got much better after that, his first 20games in which he was mainly in checking line and didn't have enough confidence which changed after og and that immediately showed in his production and i am not making excuses just stating facts also don't think he should be 1st overall but he might very likely be best player in redraft in 5 years

You can't just ignore the 7 pts in 18 playoff games though. So yes his production did improve considerably post Olympics but the production pre Olympics was dreadful and the post Olympic production was better but still doesn't stand up in comparison to other top prospects out of Liiga. His P/60 was substantially worse than the other first rounders taken out of Liiga since 2015. His Liiga production is just flat out awful for a top pick.

 

[Takurcitee]

You can't just ignore the 7 pts in 18 playoff games though. So yes his production did improve considerably post Olympics but the production pre Olympics was dreadful and the post Olympic production was better but still doesn't stand up in comparison to other top prospects out of Liiga. His P/60 was substantially worse than the other first rounders taken out of Liiga since 2015. His Liiga production is just flat out awful for a top pick.

Well he is still going to be top pick so scouts probably know why if they only looked at stats like some posters here he would be mid 1st rounder instead

 

[Takurcitee]

You can't just ignore the 7 pts in 18 playoff games though. So yes his production did improve considerably post Olympics but the production pre Olympics was dreadful and the post Olympic production was better but still doesn't stand up in comparison to other top prospects out of Liiga. His P/60 was substantially worse than the other first rounders taken out of Liiga since 2015. His Liiga production is just flat out awful for a top pick.

Also he is Slovak in Finnish league and other prospects from liiga were all finish which probably is something to consider as well tho you are right he should have better production but I think he will in ahl and later in NHL which is what matters in the end i just wanted to put some context on his low production

 

[Jukurit]

I think it's worth pointing out that TPS's power play was really bad against Ilves and Tappara:
0 PP scored against Ilves in 6 games and 1 PP goal (5-on-3) scored against Tappara in 5 games.
In total, in playoffs TPS had 43 PP opportunities and 5 PP goals (11.63%), 4 of which were scored in first round against HIFK.

 

[UrbanImpact]

Best case scenario i see Jamie Benn, worst case Bjugstad.

I'm nowhere near sold on him at # 2.


My top 5 board currently,

Cooley
Nemec
Wright
Slaf
Bichsel

 

[Guttersniped]

Eh it was every bit as terrible as Eye of Ras argument which is the point, I'm guessing.

The "Slafkovsky is the next Jagr because WC production" crowd is straight embarrassing too. Considering they still have no answer for why Kakko isn't the next Jagr despite nearly identical WC stats and vastly superior Liiga stats and nearly the same physical build.

They also want to throw out his Liiga year as relevant because frankly there's historically few first rounders from Liiga with the paltry PPG Slafkovsky has. He wasn't even limited by his size, in fact he should have thrived to the point we are arguing whether his PPG is projectsble due already being man sized.

There's no intellectually honest arguments happening on Slafkovsky these days. I posted a very neutral scouting video from YouTube on Slaf which paints everything fairly and of course it garners no traction. Instead we get posts about Tambellini, Kerins, Peter f***ing Forsberg (lol) and armchair psychological evaluations of a fan base.

The last month before a draft is such trash takes its embarrassing.

I don’t know how big this alleged ‘Slafkovsky is the next Jagr because WC production" crowd’ actually is since I only really see people complaining about it here rather than seeing this being said a lot out in the world.

When Jagr has come up it’s been about physique.

It’s weird to defend a not intellectually “honest” troll posts by complaining no one is intellectually honest. (Except you, I assume.)

 

[Hisch13r]

Also he is Slovak in Finnish league and other prospects from liiga were all finish which probably is something to consider as well tho you are right he should have better production but I think he will in ahl and later in NHL which is what matters in the end i just wanted to put some context on his low production

This was his 3rd year playing in Finland. I'm not buying that.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Olympics is absolutely an amateur tournament, it's kind of the whole point of the Olympics when they don't have professional athletes competing.

Once again from the rooftops: I never said the OHL is better because I'm not making a stats based argument for any OHL player here.

You so funny.... Olympics an amateur tournament... lol.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

The olympics up until the 90s was strictly amateur athletes only. The USSR purposely classified its athletes as students and soldiers to get around this. basketball, hockey, and boxing are pretty much the only sports that have professionals and it's a relatively new thing.

Anyways, it matters little because the point stands. I wouldn't look at numbers from such a tournament and expect NHL success.

Wow....... for love of god...
boxing?.... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....

how old are you? where are you from? curious to know...
professional boxer's have never been allowed to enter the Olympics until now

strictly amateur athletes only???? lol
do you mean every sport? both winter and summer olympics?

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Stamkos and Kane never played against men until the NHL. Neither did Doughty or Nash. McDavid or Crosby. Lemieux, Modano, Pronger, Thornton etc etc.

When you’re elite, you’ll be elite against anyone. Only question is how long will it take.

 

[goonybird]

Wow....... for love of god...
boxing?.... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....

how old are you? where are you from? curious to know...
professional boxer's have never been allowed to enter the Olympics until now

strictly amateur athletes only???? lol
do you mean every sport? both winter and summer olympics?

Yea? The Olympics was for amateurs for like a hundred years and when the NHL isn't there it's just another step closer to that tradition. Sorry I hurt your feelings.

I'm sure Kakko and Laine will be better than Matthews and Hughes any day now. After all they played against men and put up big points in the annual Roman Cervenka Cup

 

[goonybird]

I don’t know how big this alleged ‘Slafkovsky is the next Jagr because WC production" crowd’ actually is since I only really see people complaining about it here rather than seeing this being said a lot out in the world.

When Jagr has come up it’s been about physique.

It’s weird to defend a not intellectually “honest” troll posts by complaining no one is intellectually honest. (Except you, I assume.)

Anyone who gets as butthurt about pumping the brakes over, specifically, the Olympics and WHC and resorts to cutting down a player I never brought up is obviously a part of that group.

 

[Ippenator]

I think it's worth pointing out that TPS's power play was really bad against Ilves and Tappara:
0 PP scored against Ilves in 6 games and 1 PP goal (5-on-3) scored against Tappara in 5 games.
In total, in playoffs TPS had 43 PP opportunities and 5 PP goals (11.63%), 4 of which were scored in first round against HIFK.

Unfortunately he was himself part of the problem rather than just suffering from a bad power play. I at least don’t take these kind of things as excuses - for any players for that matter. I was quite disappointed in his Liiga production generally, but I do have to say that great individual performances in two high class international tournaments (they are practically almost NHL level hockey despite some ignorant North American comments here) are enough to convince me that he is a good talent.

I do have some slight similar worries about Slafkovsky that I always had about Puljujärvi though. Mostly about his offensive hockey IQ without the puck and also a bit about how quickly he can get his shot off in tight situations. Otherwise I do like his shot though. I am still quite confident that he will become a better player than Pulju, despite of these slight worries.

 

[VikingAv]

Yea? The Olympics was for amateurs for like a hundred years and when the NHL isn't there it's just another step closer to that tradition. Sorry I hurt your feelings.

I'm sure Kakko and Laine will be better than Matthews and Hughes any day now. After all they played against men and put up big points in the annual Roman Cervenka Cup

Yeah, no, this is just false. The vast majority of athletes in the olympics, both summer and winter, have been professionals for a long ass time. Basically ever since they could make money off their sport.

Also, about ..."boxing are pretty much the only sports that have professionals..." In reality boxing was actually the sport that kept allowing only amateurs for the longest time while the rest of sports in Olympics had allowed the best in their sport, no matter if they were amateurs or professionals, for many decades.

The current day exception that comes to mind is soccer, which I believe has some rule of a certain number of players over the age of 23. The players partaking are still professionals, though.

 

[goonybird]

Yeah, no, this is just false. The vast majority of athletes in the olympics, both summer and winter, have been professionals for a long ass time. Basically ever since they could make money off their sport.

Also, about ..."boxing are pretty much the only sports that have professionals..." In reality boxing was actually the sport that kept allowing only amateurs for the longest time while the rest of sports in Olympics had allowed the best in their sport, no matter if they were amateurs or professionals, for many decades.

The current day exception that comes to mind is soccer, which I believe has some rule of a certain number of players over the age of 23. The players partaking are still professionals, though.

The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[1] In 1986, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to allow professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games starting in 1988

"YeA No ThIs Is JuST FalSE"

Anyways, it's clear nobody wants to argue the merits of a garbage olympic hockey tournament and is taking a flippant comment literally to avoid addressing that fact.

So I'll sum up the point again since you guys would rather overanalyze a single comment than address the point it made:

You shouldn't assume scoring in the Olympics or even WHC is directly translatable into NHL success and you need to find better arguments for a player than those tournaments. Like, I don't know, maybe their actual play.

His play in Liiga is more important, like his good playoffs, than those tournaments.

 

[Jukurit]

Unfortunately he was himself part of the problem rather than just suffering from a bad power play. I at least don’t take these kind of things as excuses - for any players for that matter. I was quite disappointed in his Liiga production generally, but I do have to say that great individual performances in two high class international tournaments (they are practically almost NHL level hockey despite some ignorant North American comments here) are enough to convince me that he is a good talent.

I do have some slight similar worries about Slafkovsky that I always had about Puljujärvi though. Mostly about his offensive hockey IQ without the puck and also a bit about how quickly he can get his shot off in tight situations. Otherwise I do like his shot though. I am still quite confident that he will become a better player than Pulju, despite of these slight worries.

I just meant that more of as a reply to the people saying "TPS is defensive team" or "Liiga is low scoring".
Having a competent PP would have surely increased their scoring against Ilves and Tappara.

And yes, Slafkovsky does remind me too of Puljujärvi.

 

[Jukurit]

Gee whiz guys, this talk about the olympics is SOO interesting. I wanna read at least 5 more pages about this.

 

[JimEIV]

As a Devil fan, if Slafkovsky is available at #2, I make that pick without a second thought.

I would love to have him.

 

[Blackjack]

 

[MBrodeur]

Best case scenario i see Jamie Benn, worst case Bjugstad.

I'm nowhere near sold on him at # 2.


My top 5 board currently,

Cooley
Nemec
Wright
Slaf
Bichsel

He reminds me of Anthony Mantha where he occasionally looks like a superstar out there but can't consistently put it together.

 

[Ippenator]

He reminds me of Anthony Mantha where he occasionally looks like a superstar out there but can't consistently put it together.

I do see a bit of this honestly. But I still like him as a prospect. I would probably pick him also if he was available still at #2. To me it seems still that he might have generally a tad more of consistent intensity than Mantha, which makes me believe that he probably becomes a better player than Mantha after all.

 

[John Pedro]

seems like even if he doesn't become a star on its own, he'll still be a great possession winger that is amazing on the boards, with above average skill. I'd take that over a ultra dynamic yet smalish center given Devils already got Jack-Nico-Mercer down the middle if they don't move Mercer to wing for real. I'd rather have a more defensive minded, big sized 3C, anyway.

Seems like he's got all we want out of a ideal Hughes' winger, imo. Kinda like a more complete Sharangovich.

 

[Brew]

Yeah, no, this is just false. The vast majority of athletes in the olympics, both summer and winter, have been professionals for a long ass time. Basically ever since they could make money off their sport.

Also, about ..."boxing are pretty much the only sports that have professionals..." In reality boxing was actually the sport that kept allowing only amateurs for the longest time while the rest of sports in Olympics had allowed the best in their sport, no matter if they were amateurs or professionals, for many decades.

The current day exception that comes to mind is soccer, which I believe has some rule of a certain number of players over the age of 23. The players partaking are still professionals, though.

Pierre de Coubertin wanted the Olympics to be for amateur athletes when he founded them in 1896. The goal was for elite males to play sports and act as role models for the working class. Anybody making money for sport would have been considered ineligible to participate since the beginning until the mid 70s/80s.

There have been exceptions over time for professional athletes making way into the Olympics, but this didn’t start until the late 70s and early 80s, hence why the Russians used military as an exception to get professional level training into the Olympics as they were paid for their service, not playing the sport.

Amateur sport (and the Olympics) had a strict “no professionals” rule. If you made money, competed against someone who made money, or competed for any sort of prize was against the rules, and therefore you wouldn’t be considered an amateur or allowed to participate in the Olympics.

You should do some research before you state this bullshit as I can go on about this.

 

[Goldenhands]

He reminds me of Anthony Mantha where he occasionally looks like a superstar out there but can't consistently put it together.

He is much more advanced in term of puck poise and smarts than Mantha was in his draft year. Better skater as well and much better physical tools. In Slafkovsky you get a puck possession monster, he already works the boards better than most NHLers.