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Let’s talk about Montreal Canadiens 1st OVR pick Juraj Slafkovsky, and what he vowed to improve on for next year.
Article: https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/juraj-slafkovsky-vows-to-return-to-canadiens-as-more-complete-player-next-season
This video is taking place after the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and after the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 2022 NHL Draft 1st Round went as follows:
1st) Montreal Canadiens, Juraj Slafkovsky
2nd) New Jersey Devils, Simon Nemec
3rd) Arizona Coyotes, Logan Cooley
4th) Seattle Kraken, Shane Wright
5th) Philadelphia Flyers, Cutter Gauthier
6th) Columbus Blue Jackets (from Chicago Blackhawks), David Jiricek
7th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Ottawa Senators), Kevin Korchinski
8th) Detroit Red Wings, Marco Kasper
9th) Buffalo Sabres, Matthew Savoie
10th) Anaheim Ducks, Pavel Mintyukov
11th) Arizona Coyotes (from San Jose Sharks), Conor Geekie
12th) Columbus Blue Jackets, Denton Mateychuk
13th) Chicago Blackhawks (from New York Islanders), Frank Nazar
14th) Winnipeg Jets, Rutger McGroarty
15th) Vancouver Canucks, Jonathan Lekkerimaki
16th) Buffalo Sabres (Vegas Golden Knights), Noah Ostlund
17th) Nashville Predators, Joakim Kemell
18th) Dallas Stars, Lian Bichsel
19th) Minnesota Wild (from LA Kings), Liam Ohgren
20th) Washington Capitals, Ivan Miroshnichenko
21st) Pittsburgh Penguins, Owen Pickering
22nd) Anaheim Ducks (from Boston Bruins), Nathan Gaucher
23rd) St. Louis Blues, Jimmy Snuggerud
24th) Minnesota Wild, Danila Yurov
25th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Toronto Maple Leafs), Sam Rinzel
26th) Montreal Canadiens (from Calgary Flames), Filip Mesar
27th) San Jose Sharks (from Carolina Hurricanes via Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens), Filip Bystedt
28th) Buffalo Sabres (from Florida Panthers), Jiri Kulich
29th) Arizona Coyotes (from Edmonton Oilers), Maveric Lamoureux
30th) Winnipeg Jets (from New York Rangers), Brad Lambert
31st) Tampa Bay Lightning, Isaac Howard
32nd) Edmonton Oilers (from Colorado Avalanche via Arizona Coyotes), Reid Schaefer
This video is also taking place after 2022 NHL Season, and after the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Finals.
Twitter: @LR99Gaming
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Hi. I’m “Gio Palermo”, also known as “legorocks99” (“legorocks99Gaming”, “LR99Gaming”, or “LR99”). I post video game commentaries on YouTube revolving around “hockey”, with a primary focus on “Vancouver Canucks”, “Montreal Canadiens”, “Detroit Red Wings”, and top “NHL prospects” topics. These videos are uploaded with “NHL 23” gameplay in the background. I enjoy making these videos and I hope that you enjoy watching them!
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14 Comments
The thumbnail looks like the cover of a documentary or autobiography xD
this guy is gonna be like a jack hughes, a couple of slow seasons, and than eventually he'll blossom.
he's a bust
I think Slaf was the "safe pick" for the habs. 2022 was such a poor year for drafting, it was impossible to pick a winner so the habs went with the guy with the highest floor. We can already eliminate the possibility of slaf ever making the all star team. That said, what is the difference between a super star player and a really good player? About 15 points per year? If Slaf can produce over 60 points year after year for a long period, along with add grit and strength to the lineup it will be just fine by me. Not amazing but good enough considering the circonstances. If the opposing team is extenuated after Slaf's shift and this helps other trios score goals, it's job done in my book. We got to let the kid do his thing without putting bad vibes on his shoulders. He's going to do his best and it wasn't his fault the Habs picked him first. Remember during the draft we had Shane Write saying out loud he should be picked first. Slaf was just "Hi there my name is Slafkovski, I hope you will like me one day". He is big, Kirby is big and talented, add in there another quality guy that grinds like no other like a Harvey- Pinard or a playmaking wizard like Farrel and one never knows,.. there could be lots of Slafkovski jerseys in the stands one day..
Please talk abt the kings 🙂
Great kid. Even if he doesn't become the biggest point scorer every team would love to have a power forward like him when he gets there.
There are many factors that probably will help Slaf find stability and point production, from him not playing bottom 6, the Habs will have more pressure to win, Dach is a way better player now than at the beginning of the season and hopefully our bad contract players will play on the bttom 6 and not take the spot of our prospects. He won't suddenly look like Rantanen but as soon as he will learn to use his size offensively and defensively, he will be very hard to defend and I believe he will be similar to Dach in puck protection
You could comment on the decision to keep Slaf with the Big Club rather than sending him somewhere where could DEVELOP his game. He was totally mismanaged and it was a disasterous to keep him in Montreal. I also believe he needs to lose some weight to I improve his quickness. I hope he becomes a star and we will see how he us used next year.
Here are the facts regarding Juraj….. 1) I went back 26 years. I looked at every performance of the number 1 overall pick in their first year. Juraj put up the WORST performance of any First Round Overall. The last 1st overall that performed worse was JOE THORNTON. EVEN Nail Yacopov was better in his first year.then Slafkovsky 2) The Habs clearly fumbled and bumbled with Slafkovsky he should have either gone back to junior or back to Europe. He was clearly way overmatched in The NHL. 3) Look at Wright back to junior. 4) The Habs never should have burnt the first year of Slafkovsky ECL.
ON THE PLUS SIDE IF SLAFKOVSKY has a career like Joe Thornton then that would be good
My worry… Slaf will only blossom in his second contract…. That won’t be in Montreal
Last thing… and I tracked it… Slafkovsky got blown up with huge hits every 6.75 games…. 1 out of every 6.75 games Slafkovsky got destroyed…. By huge hits.
That was on the Habs management
Slafkovsky should have gone to world juniors and played either Junior or AHL.
If we did not see … we should not have burned his year 1 ECL
For every foreign player in the NHL there is another player just as good born in North Amerca. There is nothing NATIONAL about the NHL
His biggest adjustment will be awareness of hits , in junior he could play mostly without fear of getting rocked so he could get away with putting himself in bad spots in regardd to taking hit ,in the NHL he has to protect himself and keep his head up
It wasn't a "generational" draft. Slaf doesn't need to "justify" being picked 1st overall. Hughes said he was picked because they wanted size up front, and they liked his maturity for his age, independence, attitude as well as the tool package potential, he's played both offensive as well as defensive minded hockey in Europe…not because they thought he would be their next big goal scorer, but balanced. If he can develop with his size, speed, reach, into more of a disruptive shut down forward with some offensive contribution of 20+ goals, Mtl can use that and I'm good with that actually. Then they traded for Dach, size again and untapped offensive potential.
The key is Slaf working with coaches who recognize his abilities, develop and exploit those abilities and learn to use his size to his advantage (and keep his head up, read plays better, create open ice on a smaller rink). He's not a generational goal scorer, he's part of a stunted development period due to the pandemic…whether it's next season or takes a couple seasons, his value will break out.
Slaf and Dach are two different pieces to offensive squad. Hughes isn't done yet up front by any stretch, he said it will take a while. There's also the young defenseman to develop who need better defensive support, aggressive back checking and transition from forwards.
As for "vows", setting a goal to reach a higher level and putting the work needed into it is good…as long as it doesn't break him if it doesn't come as quickly as he hopes. There's a lot of work and learning to be had, he has the potential.
A good thing is the coaching staff that recognizes a players abilities and allows them to play to their strengths rather than force them to play in a box they're not suited for and ruin them.
I hope to see him develop like boldy similar build