Slafkovski reminds me of Pulju

[ijuka]

Slafkovsky's hands are better than Pulju's, Pulju's skating was better.

But, Pulju at least was somewhat dominant in Liiga. Slafkovsky was not. He was barely a third liner.

Put me on record that this kid is going to be a beast by 25. He's a teenager and shows glimpses of his talent more and more often.

He likely never reaches the lofty point totals of other first overalls, but I think people need to get past that. Not all draft years have a superstar, it is what it is - but it doesn't mean that his only outcomes are superstar or bust.

Why are you assuming that just because Slafkovsky won't be a superstar, that draft won't have a superstar?

 

[Canadienna]

Why are you assuming that just because Slafkovsky won't be a superstar, that draft won't have a superstar?

I didn't assume that. I said not every draft has a superstar. More to the point, not every draft has a clear cut superstar at number 1.

Still, the point of my post was that even if he doesn't become a superstar he can and is showing signs of being a very good player.

 

[General Fanager]

Phew....

We almost went a full week without a Slaf hating thread.

Once AGAIN, he is 19 and has 57 games experience....

 

[AvatarAang]

This is just categorically false because it was very well known that NJD wanted to draft Slafkovsky

LOL habs use this excuse for everyone they draft.

If you tell them they should have picked michkov instead of Reinbacher, they will start screaming that Arizona wanted Reinbacher so they made the right pick lol

 

[ole ole]

Phew....

We almost went a full week without a Slaf hating thread.

Once AGAIN, he is 19 and has 57 games experience....

2 pts last game. We just need to give it time.

 

[General Fanager]

2 pts last game. We just need to give it time.

exactly.

If it is like this 2-3 years from now then Ill be the first to slam the kid but for now these threads are silly

 

[Sasha Orlov]

It is way too early to write him off but idk how anyone can act like his play isn’t concerning at this point lol

 

[Eagle Fang]

Thread reminds me of Byfield. Struggled early on and haters were calling him a bust with 100 NHL games under his belt. Supporters said he's still young and needs time. This year he's breaking out and looks like the 2nd overall pick people expected him to be. He has been incredible.

It's simply way to early to write Slafkovsky off.

 

[izzy]

We are so used to see 1st overalls and great young guys come in the NHL and have success right away that we forget it's actually normal to take a few years to really come into his own in the NHL. Let's give him some more time before talking about bust territory.

With that being said, I think the Habs have rushed him because of the 1st Overall tag and also because he played with men before (Olympics, world championships and liiga). He should've spent a year in the AHL, especially after his injury, but that's just my opinion.

Yep, I think the streak of Mackinnon, Ekblad, Mcdavid and Matthews kind of ruined peoples perspective on how not every 1st overall pick is already a game changer.

Look at 2018-2022. The norm is not immediate top liner. Hughes was not a star right away at all, Laf is just putting it together now and Power didnt even play in the NHL right away

 

[McShogun99]

Who should have?

Most rankings had Wright at the top.

 

[RI.B FAN]

Most rankings had Wright at the top.

Wright still has not made the Kraken lineup

 

[Haatley]

who knows , he's got some good and some bad , young massive guy. That entire draft is looking stinky. Missing out on michkov will haunt us more in my opinion

Whole draft isn't looking stinky at all.

 

[HanSolo]

who knows , he's got some good and some bad , young massive guy. That entire draft is looking stinky. Missing out on michkov will haunt us more in my opinion

The entire draft? Cooley, Mintyukov, Korchinski have looked good. Speaking for Anaheim, Mintyukov looks like a legit stud #1D in the making. Gauthier, Wright, Nemec and Jiricek look promising as well.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Most rankings had Wright at the top.

Cool. Thought you were going to try sneak Cooley in there.

 

[Breakers]

They showed a clip last night of him on a basic forcheck

And he was gonna skip finishing his check and pursue the puck as he had good pursuit.
But instead something clicked like a coaches instructions in his head and decided to switch back to finish his check but it was soo late at that and he already lost his speed reverting back
So he lost puck pursuit, his speed, and finishing his check isn’t gonna do anything

The announcers said essentially he is just overthinking things wayyyyyy too much right now.

 

[Mackiaveli]

If you tell them they should have picked michkov instead of Reinbacher, they will start screaming that Arizona wanted Reinbacher so they made the right pick lol

I'm sorry but I don't actually understand the correlation between these two picks. Slafkovsky was pretty unanimously expected to go 1OA amongst teams with draft picks as well as within the media - Bobby who is almost never wrong had him at 1OA, and that is where he fell. If ANY team outside of Arizona won that #1 pick, it seems that the general consensus was to swing on Slafkovsky.

Whereas with Michkov vs Reinbacher - DR was ranked 8th, and Michkov was a very consensus top 5 pick. He slipped past Arizona because they fell in love with a particular player (a la Cooley) ... if ANYTHING, this actually further substantiates my original point that, outside of Arizona, there is a general consensus of what to do - Arizona is the only team that has seemingly gone against that consensus (outside of the Habs with the DR pick)

Slafkovsky may not pan out, he may not be 'the right pick' but he was not some unpopular swing pick by Kent Hughes; even if you wanted to say that about DR, I think the only controversial thing between these two picks is passing on Michkov. If Michkov was gone, and it was Smith on the board, I don't even think people are still talking about the choice today.

 

[majormajor]

He also reminds me of Puljujarvi. The Habs keeping Slaf in the NHL especially makes me think that he won't be in a great position to learn. He doesn't have timing with the puck and there's no time to learn in the NHL.

The thing about Puljujarvi though is that he had two double hip surgeries because of hip degeneration. That's why he's not an NHLer. There were times, like two years ago, where he looked like a very useful checking forward. His lack of IQ didn't stop him from tilting the ice with speed and strength on the puck. I don't think Slaf will need a lot of double hip surgeries.

 

[ThePlanet]

Pennies-on-the-dollar trade in two years, and then he turns it around with a new franchise. Calling it now.

 

[Primary Assist]

Habs need to learn to stop rushing guys into the NHL, just because they can play in an NHL lineup doesn't mean it's the best thing for their long-term development if they're aiming to be elite players.

Hey... You're not the wallet inspector

 

[Rob]

Of course he can turn things around and it is too early to write him off as a bust. However, it is obvious that he was rushed into the NHL. Should have been kept in Europe for at least one more season.

 

[Garbageyuk]

So why are people dog-pilling on him already then? It doesn't make any sense.

Because it’s the Habs, and honestly it’s fair game. I love doing the same thing to Leafs and Oilers fans.

 

[MakoSlade]

Phew....

We almost went a full week without a Slaf hating thread.

Once AGAIN, he is 19 and has 57 games experience....

Schadenfreude waits for no one.

 

[KevinRedkey]

It looks like it may turn out to be a weak draft, but Cooley (the player some people would have taken, including myself) has as many points in his first 17 games as Slaf has in his last 48.

It's too early to hate - but it's also been enough games to be concerned. I don't wish anything bad for the kid. I hope he turns it around and carves out a better career than PoolParty did.

Note: I realise Cooley wasn't a slam dunk pick either, and that Wrights was the more common pick (who is also struggling). But just like Daigle said no one remembers #2, sometimes #2 is Chris Pronger and it just looks bad. lol

 

[TheRumble]

I saw someone bring up Jack Hughes in this thread. Jack Hughes' second full season in the NHL he put up 31 points in the 56 game bubble season the the Devils who are an analytically driven front office saw enough in his underlying numbers to give him an $8x8 contract extension a year early.

Are any Habs fans here that confident in Slaf? He'd be eligible for a extension July 1st.

 

[Albatros]

I saw someone bring up Jack Hughes in this thread. Jack Hughes' second full season in the NHL he put up 31 points in the 56 game bubble season the the Devils who are an analytically driven front office saw enough in his underlying numbers to give him an $8x8 contract extension a year early.

Are any Habs fans here that confident in Slaf? He'd be eligible for a extension July 1st.

Slafkovský is still younger than Hughes was at the start of that season, at this age he had 7+14=21 points in 61 NHL games while Slafkovský has 6+9=15 points in 57 games with substantially fewer ice time and PP opportunities. Time will show when he can take his next step, for a guy his size it would be perfectly normal to take longer.