In a sense I feel bad for Montreal since the 2022 draft class was really poor in terms of what you usually get as a first overall talent but all of Cooley, Jiricek, Nemec and Gauthier took steps last year that Slaf didn’t.
i would’ve taken Slafkovsky first too but taken a completely different development approach. He needed at least one more year in Liiga and maybe even an additional one after that, awful development by MTL.
Yeah we caught a bad break for that draft for sure in terms of no clear cut guy seen as number one, and yes, he was clearly not ready for the NHL last season but as the saying goes...................the night is still young.
I think the tools are there for him to be an impact player. I'd like to see him slim down a little for more quickness out there and hopefully he breaks through with some nice games early this season and he gets his confidence going, he does have tremendous upside if it all comes together. Maybe he won't prove himself in the end to have been the best pick at that spot but I still think when all is said and done he will be one of the best 4, that wouldn't be what we were dreaming of but still a guy who is a core player of your team.
But that brings us back to the passing on Michkov doesn't it? You had a guy drop to you for whatever reasons at pick five who was a number one overall talent( of which there wasn't any last year compared to a normal draft year)...............................and you pass on him? really?
As I said........in 5 years time that may look REALLY BAD.