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

[Scandale du Jour]

He didn't set Finnish league in fire.. The kid has a lot to learn, even if he is a #1 overall.

Good luck then

I hope for the kid's sake that the Habs have a different strategy than with Galchenyuk and Kotkaniemi.

1 - Rush them at 18
2 - Do not manage them away from the rink (Galchenyuk discovered St-Denis/Ste-Catherine, Kotkaniemi got lazy)
3 - Do not develop properly and leave the club to continue to bust somewhere else

 

[Et le But]

I warmed up to the idea of getting Slaf with the number 1 pick. Tons of potential and worst case scenario should still be a potent middle 6 power forward.

If that was the worst case scenario there wouldn't be this much controversy here lol. The worst case scenario is that he's not even replacement level - hopefully not but with his lack of any real production against comparable opposition there's greater risk he's not good enough for the NHL than what you want from a first overall pick.

I hate the pick but I get it - as a prospect he's a very exciting one. But he's a huge gamble and is as likely to be a complete washout as much as he is a middle 6 winger.

 

[montreal]

I guess no team has his CHL rights? Guess he will be in Laval then.

 

[Brownies]

I felt sorry for McCagg when Habsfan went after him for weeks all unhinged and all. And other people on Twitter were getting harassing direct messages for daring to say Wright won't go #1. Well now McCagg et al are vindicated, and Habsfan looks foolish. Of course, Habsfan won't see that, lack of self awareness and all. They'll just shift their stories.

Oh common, fans of other teams would have done the exact same under similar circumstances. Habs fans won’t look foolish for a few years, Wright could very well become the best player of this draft, or Cooley or Nemec etc.

 

[jj cale]

If kid was from Canada this would be mutch different thread.

"Wow. He is playing with grown men! Generational rookie player in world cup and Olympics!"

That said I would still went with center piece.

Interesting to see how it goes. Hope all these kids have a good NHL career.

If Wright was Finnish it would be an army of fans from there saying what a mistake it was taking Slaf.

We all know how these things work based on Nationality with fans around here, been here long? cripes, Finnish fans made fools of themselves during the Laine/Matthews draft around here for God sakes, comparing him to Mario Lemieux and and all sorts of ridiculous things.

That's just the way it is.

 

[Captain97]

I wanted Wright but the more I hear him talk the more I like his personality and think it could fit in the Montreal market.

 

[jj cale]

Been watching vids on Slavkovsky all morning and the more I watch the more convinced I've become we've got the right guy. He's a great package all around offensively, his playmaking skills are undersold too.......he's not just some big kid who can score goals.

Of course they are all highlight packages but even so................the upside is pretty obvious when you watch them. He can turn into an impact player pretty quickly IMO.

 

[Jee]

I'm still shocked lol

and jealous of his jaw line, what a chad

 

[Peasy]

Been watching vids on Slavkovsky all morning and the more I watch the more convinced I've become we've got the right guy. He's a great package all around offensively, his playmaking skills are undersold too.......he's not just some big kid who can score goals.

Of course they are all highlight packages but even so................the upside is pretty obvious when you watch them. He can turn into an impact player pretty quickly IMO.

He's a freak, a unicorn. He's no kk. I don't know why so many hab fans got obsessed with wright without even watching any video of the other prospects. If you get so invested in someone you gotta be looking at more than just their elite prospect page, it only tells a sliver of the entire story.

NHL scouts have been high on slaf all year. Many according to the black book had him at one over wright all the way back in January. This wasn't just some random late surge. Takes time for the media to catch up to the scouting world when a new challenger appears.

 

[jj cale]

He's a freak, a unicorn. He's no kk. I don't know why so many hab fans got obsessed with wright without even watching any video of the other prospects. If you get so invested in someone you gotta be looking at more than just their elite prospect page, it only tells a sliver of the entire story.

NHL scouts have been high on slaf all year. Many according to the black book had him at one over wright all the way back in January. This wasn't just some random late surge. Takes time for the media to catch up to the scouting world when a new challenger appears.

I'm more then confident he will be far better then k.K, his skating, stride and strength are far superior, I won't even go into his shot.

As for habs fans, I'd go easy on them, like any other teams fans they want the best for their team and sure as heck we do need that elusive number one centre and there was a guy who looked like he was a sure thing for a few years so when you get the first overall it seems like he's a fairly obvious choice and it's natural to defend that player you think the team is picking.

It is hardly a Habs fan thing, you would have got the same thing out of any teams fan base.

anyway, enough of that, I'm happy with our pick at 1, I agree with you he should turn out really well, I am more concerned about the Dach move but I am hopeful, we rolled the dice there but it shows what kind of team we are trying to build and sometimes you have to roll the dice to make it happen.

 

[danisonfire]

Could this be another Doug Wickinheiser level of pick? Wright isn’t Dennis Savard, but this whole scenario sure has similarities.

Slafkovsky has all the attributes to be great he just might never get there and doesn't really have a long track record of good numbers.

The worry is Montreal continuously picks gambles and projects with top 3 picks. Not what I like doing drafting that high and they don't really have any success when they do.

I feel we passed on two centers that have a floor of #2 center and a defenseman who has top pairing potential. We need both of these things way more than a winger.

Hopefully Slafkovsky changes this. He seems to have a good attitude and personality. That is extremely important for success. I hope he does well and proves me wrong and shows that he is worthy of #1. I just see it as a huge risk and drafting #1 I don't think we should have resorted to this with the #1 pick.

On Wright; this makes me question personality/attitude. Something had to have been shown during interviews. The talent is there and several teams passed, not just one. I get a lot of negative energy vibes from Shane. Him glaring at the Montreal table and the overall negative energy during a time that is supposed to be happy and exciting (podium with his new nhl team) was noticeable. Seems very ego driven. Negative, everyone against me.

 

[Aurinko]

If Wright was Finnish it would be an army of fans from there saying what a mistake it was taking Slaf.

We all know how these things work based on Nationality with fans around here, been here long? cripes, Finnish fans made fools of themselves during the Laine/Matthews draft around here for God sakes, comparing him to Mario Lemieux and and all sorts of ridiculous things.

That's just the way it is.

Slaf is not finnish and even if he played in a finnish league team 95% of finns do not support in any way the team TPS he played in.

Yes, finnish fans do like the fact that he played in finland before getting drafted, but I think you are stretching it.

 

[jj cale]

Slaf is not finnish and even if he played in a finnish league team 95% of finns do not support in any way the team TPS he played in.

Yes, finnish fans do like the fact that he played in finland before getting drafted, but I think you are stretching it.

Yes I know he's not Finnish. the poster is..............and the point is that is how fans carry on around here. He was talking about this behaviour being some sort of Canadian specific thing, which we all know it isn't.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

 

[didimentionlarseller]

slafkovsky YouTube highlight videos so hot right now

 

[Michoulicious]

Duh, they did not prepare in avance for the possibility of Mtl picking Slaf?

Incompetence.

 

[Et le But]

Nah. This juggernaut who played vs men and destroyed Olympics should prove himself as real 1OA. Not some wannabe talent that needs to be sheltered. What kind of message to 1OA is: Look kid, we drafted you 1OA , we'll maybe look up to you in the future, but you're not ready to play in big league. Go learn a bit more in Finland.????
I don't think Slafkofsky will take it easy being the first 1OA forward not deemed NHL ready in decades.

The problem is he so far hasn't yet been good enough to play against men in SM-Liiga - which might not be the NHL but is a higher level competition than the Kazakhstan national team.


The only thing worse than picking an unknown project first overall is to rush said project. Maybe he really is the second coming of Bertuzzi or Forsberg or even just Rantanen, all of who took a while to figure it out.

 

[MoneyManny]

Some fans were angry with Keane, Koivu & Gionta for not learning French.

Most people in Quebec have trouble speaking a sentence in french without inserting english words nowadays. Times change.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

His reaction when the habs picked his childhood friend Mesar

 

[Brownies]

I love the potential, he looked awesome at these last 2 international events but in 20 years on these boards one of the main thing I've learned is to not put too much emphasis on short tournaments when judging prospects. I'll have to trust the scouts but man am I worried looking at that table comparing the production of Slafkovsky to Kotkaniemi, Kaako, Barkov etc in the Liiga.

Duh, they did not prepare in avance for the possibility of Mtl picking Slaf?

Incompetence.

I mean if Montreal without a doubt were going to take Wright everyone would've known so it was obvious they had to prepare for something else... Maybe they tought it was Wright, Cooley or Nemec for Montreal ? Anyway yeah it was poor preparation from New-Jersey.

 

[montreal]

Does The Erie Otters still own his rights?

 

[V13]

I love the potential, he looked awesome at these last 2 international events but in 20 years on these boards one of the main thing I've learned is to not put too much emphasis on short tournaments when judging prospects. I'll have to trust the scouts but man am I worried looking at that table comparing the production of Slafkovsky to Kotkaniemi, Kaako, Barkov etc in the Liiga.

His SM-liga production does worry me a bit too but then i looked at Rantanen production in his first 2 years in Liga and it's about on par with Slaf production in his first year. So ultimately it may not mean much when it come to potential projection in the NHL, Does it means that it should be discounted ? No but in the end it may end up being not that important of a factor.

That said i still think Slaf is a high risk/high reward kinda player. The guy has a huge upside but also many unknowns.

 

[Shocker]

His SM-liga production does worry me a bit too but then i looked at Rantanen production in his first 2 years in Liga and it's about on par with Slaf production in his first year. So ultimately it may not mean much when it come to potential projection in the NHL, Does it means that it should be discounted ? No but in the end it may end up being not that important of a factor.

That said i still think Slaf is a high risk/high reward kinda player. The guy has a huge upside but also many unknowns.

One thing about Liiga that people tend to forget is that it's a professional league, with a wild difference of a playstyle compared to the NHL.

And in the end, teams are trying to win, not raise prospects.

I also agree that Slafkovsky is a project, but his potential is sky high.

 

[Aurinko]

His SM-liga production does worry me a bit too but then i looked at Rantanen production in his first 2 years in Liga and it's about on par with Slaf production in his first year. So ultimately it may not mean much when it come to potential projection in the NHL, Does it means that it should be discounted ? No but in the end it may end up being not that important of a factor.

That said i still think Slaf is a high risk/high reward kinda player. The guy has a huge upside but also many unknowns.

Rantanen exceeded development in NHL and wasnt nr. 1 pick. Obviously that 2015 was the craziest draft year in nhl history by a gigantic margin, so if Slaf can even touch the same development pace he will succeed.

 

[Scotianhab]

Does The Erie Otters still own his rights?

I think they do but not sure. I wouldn’t be against him going there so we don’t rush him.