Slafkovski reminds me of Pulju

[ijuka]

So what i get from your comment is that you have not watched him and you base your opinion of him having a ‘’worse’’ season than last year on stats.

Was pretty invisible in the games I've seen this season. Haven't seen a single standout play, though to be fair, I've only seen maybe 4 complete games by Habs, as they're not a high priority team for me.

Either way, "stronger play" isn't worth much if it's not reflected in stats. At that point, who can say if the play actually is stronger or not? And it could simply be a product of Habs themselves being a stronger team this season than the last.

The advanced stats are similarly bad, and the game flow is similarly directed from the offensive zone to the detective zone, rather than the other way around.

Of course, the offensive stats will look good when we're sampling immediately after a hot streak. But by that logic, we could say that his first 15 games he was worse than last season, as he only scored 2 points in them. And he's been better for 3 games? Well, 15 games is a greater sample size than 3 games. If we want to fiddle with the numbers in this manner.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I’m always very suspicious when fans say ‘points don’t tell the story’ and say ‘watch him play’. We hear that for every single high draft pick that is underperforming.
The bottom line is that he’s off to a disappointing start. Still lots of time to improve but no guarantees that he will.

Exactly this. Kept hearing how “great Kakko” looked throughout his early struggles and you just need to “watch him play”.


Turns out he’s just not very good either

 

[amnesiac]

it has taken a similar sized Quinton Byfield (#2 overall) to finally start producing after 3 years..... will probably be about the same for Slaf.

 

[AvroArrow]

So what i get from your comment is that you have not watched him and you base your opinion of him having a ‘’worse’’ season than last year on stats.

Honestly I've seen 2 and maybe like half games this year and he looked completely irrelevant in all of them. I legitimately thought he was scratched cause of injury or something, until I saw the stat sheet.

Also yes 5 points in 18 games, outside the top 300. This isn't a normal sort of stat that someone can ignore, it is like historically bad, 22 point pace. Laf scored 39 and people were screaming about him being a complete bust, this is nearly half of that.

When a stat is so extreme like that, how can you not pay attention to it ? Sure a guy can be struggling, but a 22 point pace for a 1st overall pick ? Are we just gonna pretend like that isn't a big deal or something ?

How many Oilers games have you seen this year ? Did Campbell play extremely poorly or did you just look at stats ? That's my point, it's an extremely alarmingly low point total, one you can't just ignore. You don't have to watch every single game a player plays to know that 5 points in 18 games is horrendous.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Was pretty invisible in the games I've seen this season. Haven't seen a single standout play, though to be fair, I've only seen maybe 4 complete games by Habs, as they're not a high priority team for me.

Either way, "stronger play" isn't worth much if it's not reflected in stats. At that point, who can say if the play actually is stronger or not? And it could simply be a product of Habs themselves being a stronger team this season than the last.

The advanced stats are similarly bad, and the game flow is similarly directed from the offensive zone to the detective zone, rather than the other way around.

Of course, the offensive stats will look good when we're sampling immediately after a hot streak. But by that logic, we could say that his first 15 games he was worse than last season, as he only scored 2 points in them. And he's been better for 3 games? Well, 15 games is a greater sample size than 3 games. If we want to fiddle with the numbers in this manner.

Early in the year, I thought he looked good playing with Newhook and Dach. Unfortunately, Dach got hurt so whatever chemistry they had is a no go.

 

[ScottishCanuck]

I think everyone’s forgetting that he’s 19. Plenty of time for him to pan out.

Montreal need to get their act together though and start questioning whether the NHL, at this point in time, is the best place for his development.

 

[bert]

Oh i’ll be here laughing at you like i currently am laughing at every terrible evaluation you’ve made…

You’re literally here saying Puljujärvi rode shotgun to Aho and Laine, when in the past you claimed he dominated at those exact same WJC’s. You claimed Puljujärvi has way way worse shot than Slafkovski, despite claiming in the past that he has awesome shot. How are you gonna claim to be this excellent evaluator with your 40 years of experience working with Pro’s and scouts when you evaluated Puljujärvi so bad that all his strenghts turned out to be weaknesses?

Absolutely nobody should take any of your opinions seriously when you chance it every year, like you’ve done with:
Nylander, Chabot, Puljujärvi and Lafreniere just to name few.

You’re like a bad take factory, your post history is literally filled with them. How many times do you need to be 100% wrong till you realize that you can’t evaluate players at all?

Have you said anything definitive on this site? Or do you always just go through posters history and completely ignore when they have been right and call out when they have been wrong? Do you feel better about yourself? Is your self esteem so low this is what it takes for you to have some confidence?

So every other person and scout should be raked over the coals for getting Puljujarvi wrong? All of Bob Mackenzies scouts that he interviewed? Do you have any proof of your own that you said any different? I have yet to see anything that legitimizes you. All I see is a coward hammering on a keyboard who cherry picks his points.

My post history like all posters has hits and misses I dont have the time or energy or the sad vindictive personality to go through other posters history and call them out on every wrong take.

 

[MrCreamm]

I think everyone’s forgetting that he’s 19. Plenty of time for him to pan out.

Montreal need to get their act together though and start questioning whether the NHL, at this point in time, is the best place for his development.

Still, very very far from ideal, these years in the NHL honestly seem like a waste of development for him. He's not good enough to get much out of the NHL right now, I really think the Habs should've just sent him to the AHL, at least he can experiment and figure out his game more with top 6 minutes in an appropriate skill level. It just appears to me that if he stays on this path he'll become a good checking 3rd liner, maybe a 40/50 point guy in the long run. Big guys often take longer to figure it out and he's only 19 but I haven't seen his play change much. At least in the AHL he'd be able to more effectively exploit his size advantage. Habs should've started him off in the AHL after training camp, so he could maybe develop some confidence. I wonder if the Habs hypothetically took him at 5-7th overall if he starts in Laval or stays overseas another year....

 

[Jukurit]

He's probably going to be another high draft pick bust drafted from Liiga, just like Pulju and Kakko.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

If Ottawa drafted this guy the same Habs fans defending him would be trashing us.

He looks far more engaged and I’m sure the numbers will come, but at this stage I think it’s a little dishonest to say there’s no concern or disappointment.

The play driving doesn’t seem to be there.

I'm pretty sure most habs fans are disappointed with the production considering where he was picked. However, at the same, it's not like the players drafted after him are doing great.

If you look at the other top 5 picks:
Nemec still hasn't made the nhl in his d+2 year.
Cooley has 3 even-strength points in 18 nhl games.
Wright is being bounced between the ahl and nhl, and has not produced well in the nhl.
Gauthier is still in the ncaa and is producing barely above ppg.

None of them are doing what you would've typically expected from a 1st overall pick in their d+2 year.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

Exactly this. Kept hearing how “great Kakko” looked throughout his early struggles and you just need to “watch him play”.


Turns out he’s just not very good either

On the other hand, Rangers fans have been ragging on LaFreniere nonstop while always making excuses for Kakko. Now this year, it seems like Laf is more likely to reach at least some sort of offensive potential. But it could still be that Kakko is better at the other parts of play.

 

[LeProspector]

I'm pretty sure most habs fans are disappointed with the production considering where he was picked. However, at the same, it's not like the players drafted after him are doing great.

If you look at the other top 5 picks:
Nemec still hasn't made the nhl in his d+2 year.
Cooley has 3 even-strength points in 18 nhl games.
Wright is being bounced between the ahl and nhl, and has not produced well in the nhl.
Gauthier is still in the ncaa and is producing barely above ppg.

None of them are doing what you would've typically expected from a 1st overall pick in their d+2 year.

Cooley looks fantastic. He‘s doing what you expect from a #1 overall pick. Arizona has a good one there.

 

[biturbo19]

I can definitely see where the comparison is coming from. I think Slafkovsky has much better actual tools though. The puck skills, but also the skating is a lot more well-rounded, not just pure "straight line fast". But there are definitely some of the same awareness issues on the ice, where the vision is and always has been very suspect.

However...the biggest difference to me, is that Slafkovsky at least seems to have the capability in him, to embrace the "grinder" mentality and eventually find a way to be an effective physical straight line crash and bang winger in the Bottom-6. Something Puljujarvi never really seemed able to figure out. Remains to be seen if Slaf can develop his defensive game to a level that makes him really useful in that role...but i'd say he's already at or surpassed Poolparty's defensive awareness, and he's still very very young. So...that seems like a positive indicator...

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Cooley looks fantastic. He‘s doing what you expect from a #1 overall pick. Arizona has a good one there.

3 EV points in 18 games are not good numbers for a #1 overall pick. Cooley is tied 14th among players on the Coyotes in EV points.
Even Slaf has more EV points than him.

Most of Cooleys points are coming from the pp, where he's playing nearly 4 min per game on the top unit.
Slaf is playing 2 min per game on the 2nd unit. Give him 4 min per game on the top unit, and his point totals would be pretty close to Cooley's.

 

[LeProspector]

3 EV points in 18 games are not good numbers for a #1 overall pick. Cooley is tied 14th among players on the Coyotes in EV points.
Even Slaf has more EV points than him.

Most of Cooleys points are coming from the pp, where he's playing nearly 4 min per game on the top unit.
Slaf is playing 2 min per game on the 2nd unit. Give him 4 min per game on the top unit, and his point totals would be pretty close to Cooley's.

At the end of the day, they don’t ask how. They ask how many.

Cooley is killing it.

 

[ole ole]

At the end of the day, they don’t ask how. They ask how many.

Cooley is killing it.

3 EV points in 18 games are not good numbers for a #1 overall pick no matter how you try to disguise it.

 

[LeProspector]

3 EV points in 18 games are not good numbers for a #1 overall pick no matter how you try to disguise it.

You can try and spin the narrative anyway you want.

points are points.

Montreal wishes they had Cooley right now.

 

[nbwingsfan]

3 EV points in 18 games are not good numbers for a #1 overall pick. Cooley is tied 14th among players on the Coyotes in EV points.
Even Slaf has more EV points than him.

Most of Cooleys points are coming from the pp, where he's playing nearly 4 min per game on the top unit.
Slaf is playing 2 min per game on the 2nd unit. Give him 4 min per game on the top unit, and his point totals would be pretty close to Cooley's.

Slav has 1pt on the PP because he’s horrible offensively so far.

Giving him 2 extra mins is not going to make his PP production go up by like 800% lol.

 

[Stephen]

Does anyone remember what kind of coverage Slafkovsky got as a prospect in 2020 and 2021? Before that pandemic Winter Games he didn't even register as a Brad Lambert level dark horse Top 3, Top 5 or even a Top 10, first round challenger.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Does anyone remember what kind of coverage Slafkovsky got as a prospect in 2020 and 2021? Before that pandemic Winter Games he didn't even register as a Brad Lambert level dark horse Top 3, Top 5 or even a Top 10, first round challenger.

After the wjc when he was 16 some people were talking about top 5.

I think heading into his draft year he was 4 on Bob's list .


Could he be another Pulu? Sure , but he could be another Byfield or even kotkaniemi, time wil tell - some guys take some time ala Olli Jokinen, radek bonk, etc. At 19 it's still far too early to know anything

EDIT - Pre season he was ranked #4 on TSN Bob's list. That was months before the olympics. To say he was not registering as a dark horse for top 10 is completely false

 

[Nevins]

JESSE PULJUJÄRVI is a player who plays on the Periphery and avoids traffic while Slafkovski wins his battles on the boards and likes to play in traffic. Very different players.

 

[Nevins]

Does anyone remember what kind of coverage Slafkovsky got as a prospect in 2020 and 2021? Before that pandemic Winter Games he didn't even register as a Brad Lambert level dark horse Top 3, Top 5 or even a Top 10, first round challenge

Its reputation especially rose during the 2021-2022 World Cup playing against

NHL player and he finished 14th in points.

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

3 EV points in 18 games are not good numbers for a #1 overall pick. Cooley is tied 14th among players on the Coyotes in EV points.
Even Slaf has more EV points than him.

Most of Cooleys points are coming from the pp, where he's playing nearly 4 min per game on the top unit.
Slaf is playing 2 min per game on the 2nd unit. Give him 4 min per game on the top unit, and his point totals would be pretty close to Cooley's.

It must be devastating to realize that with the #1 player in the entire draft, your hometown heroes selected a low-IQ middle six winger in Slafkofsky, over a burgeoning star in Cooley.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Slafkovsky doesn't have a cone head.

 

[Rorschach]

You put Slaf on the Kings and he’ll instantly be a 60+ point scorer.