All good! My unicorn thread was trollsy for sure. But, also in good fun. A bit of an over the top response to the worst 1st overall pick thread that was meant to inflame us. That was where I went wrong, ever visiting and engaging in that worst 1st thread. It fired me right the hell up. They got to me dammit, they got me good Craig, and then I shamed myself!
Living in Turku, I followed Slaf pretty closely in his draft year and it seemed like he never really found chemistry with his linemates. A lot of times I felt they didn't expect Slaf to make the plays he made and with better linemates things would improve but there was certainly a reason to be a little bit concerned when the Habs drafted him 1st overall as he simply didn't manage to produce at all at Liiga level, which the absolute top prospects have tended to crush in terms of scoring. It's extremely relieving to see those concerns didn't prove true, this kid is a pass machine and has improved literally every facet of his game by a mile this year.
Never too early. If he keeps progressing and there's no serious issues (injury, personal, etc...), not sure why we wouldn't try to get him locked up for 8 years. In terms of money, he shouldn't make more than Nick, in terms of percentage of the cap at the time of signing, given Suzy is far and away our best and most valuable player.
Slaf not only has the skill but he has the mentality and work ethic to become the best so i would have zero problems signing him to 8 years
I used to have this same mindset and honestly, would still like to have it. Unfortunately in today's game, it's just not possible given the players and agents of this era. Team must try and determine if the player is a fit both on and off the ice and hope they don't get it wrong or it could be a tough pill to swallow for years to come. Risky business but it's the current reality
Yeah but even if Slaf will ask a higher salary. dvorak, Armia, Allen and cie are gonna be off the book soon. I mean, I prefer sign long term Slaf after 3 years than 2 years. I know, this is risky. But, our team won’t be contender next year. I doubt he is going to score 90 pts and asking 9 millions/season after next years
it is very possible that in 2 years Slafkovsky is worth 9mill
Yeah, but this is projection. Everybody here was saying Caufield will score 40 goals and 8 millions is cheap. He won’t make it this year. I am not a anti-slaf. The guy is a beast. But, I just don’t like to give big contracts to many players when we are still bottom feeders.
I think Slaf almost brings as much as Caufield already. Caufield scores goals, Slaf can do everything else and might even score goals.
Caufield just turned 23. He might very well score 40 in the upcoming years.
Sometimes the risk is worth it as the consequences of not taking that risk outweigh in impact the positives that would come from a good contract. Vancouver decided to sign a bridge with peterrson instead of locking him up. Well since then he's projected to have two 100 pt seasons with the cap going up in the future. Even if he wasn't worth it, I would've rathered lock him down long term at 9-10 mil three years ago even if it turned out to be a slight overpayment than have to probably dish out 13.5 mil now
I’ve seen enough with Slaf to sign him for as many years as we can.
Habs can afford to keep both of them for another year but eventually Hughes needs to package one of them with picks/prospects to get them off the books for when they want to make major moves in the future. Having 11 mil tied up in fringe third liners is terrible but thankfully they're at the second halves of their deals after this season
