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Montreal Canadiens Select Juraj Slafkovsky


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Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky turned heads with a dominant performance at the 2022 Olympic Games. With seven goals in seven games, he led Slovakia to a historic bronze medal. Slafkovsky led the tournament in points and was named both the tournament MVP and part of the All-Star Team. He also had a strong showing at the Hlinka-Gretzky tournament where he helped his country to a silver medal. Slafkovsky scored three goals and six assists for nine points in five tournament games. He also represented his country at the World Junior Hockey Championships as well as the IIHF World Championships.

 

https://lastwordonsports.com/hockey/2022/05/08/juraj-slafkovsky-scouting-report-2022-nhl-draft/

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1 minute ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

You mean, this site? 

 

No, i mean I hate watching my favourite team #### up the #1 overall pick. 

 

I love you guys and the site. 

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Just now, Commandant said:

 

No, i mean I hate watching my favourite team #### up the #1 overall pick. 

 

I love you guys and the site. 

 

That you hate this decision makes me want to puke even more.

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Welcome to Montreal Slafkovsky! 

 

I admit I thought the Habs would pick Shane Wright, but I have to trust Hughes and Gorton (aka Horton).  At least until they screw up.  LOL

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Just now, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Maybe Dubois is the plan?

 

Slaf and Dubois would be tough

 

I'd love Dubois - now that we threw away a possible legit #1C, we need a really good #1A.

 

I just suspect that a lot of these suggestions that there must be another move coming that "makes sense" of this pick is wishful thinking.

 

This management group decided that it wanted the power W not the boring, responsible C. It will have to own that decision. Slafko will be assessed against Wright and Cooley for years to come, and if they made the wrong call, it will define their tenure.

 

I also hate that they keep saying Cooley has the highest offensive upside in the draft. I don't like the logic that you'd rather have a power W get 60 points than a skilled C get 90. 

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26 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

No, i mean I hate watching my favourite team #### up the #1 overall pick. 

 

I love you guys and the site. 


I can’t wait to read your thoughts once the first round is done. I am trying to keep an open mind

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Well...as this bombshell settles in, I think the following:

 

I usually lament teams picking the safe pick over the higher-ceiling pick. That was Timmins' modus operandi, it seems to me, and the result was a billion second- and third-liners and no stars. By contrast, the Habs swung for the fences with the pick (although the kid *was* top choice on about half the experts' lists, so it's not like this was a radical move). I can hardly complain that management declined the safe choice - I guess.

 

I'd also been concerned earlier in the year about the descriptors around Wright. People say "Patrice Bergeron," but I also hear "Bo Horvat." Horvat is a great player but not what I want with a #1 overall pick. It seems as though three NHL teams shared similar reservations that Wright would be a very fine player, but not necessarily a really high-impact player. (Ironically, I had talked myself out of these reservations by draft day).

 

The thing that lingers with me is Wright's attitude. He just seems to burn with pride and competitiveness. His humiliation today will only fuel that all the more. I get the sense that he is one of those players who does absolutely everything humanly possible to improve as a player, one of those guys with an off-the-chart drive to excel. I'm not sure Slaf the Giraffe or Cooley have that same aura. This is, of course, totally subjective, based on brief media hits, interviews, etc.. But it's one of the things that made me sure the Habs would pick him.

 

And then there is the C factor. Here, the gamble is that Suzy-Dach is a potential Cup-winning duo down the middle. I would feel more confident in Suzy-Wright. The logic is, if two prospects are close in value, pick the C.

 

So what should have been a day of excitement is now cloudy with doubt, at least for me.

 

Wright, Slaf, and Cooley will be compared for years to come. It's going to be interesting who comes out on top. 

 

But it had better be Slaf. I am so damned sick of the Habs either blowing high picks, or trading the good ones away. No more.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

The thing that lingers with me is Wright's attitude. He just seems to burn with pride and competitiveness. His humiliation today will only fuel that all the more. I get the sense that he is one of those players who does absolutely everything humanly possible to improve as a player, one of those guys with an off-the-chart drive to excel. I'm not sure Slaf the Giraffe or Cooley have that same aura. This is, of course, totally subjective, based on brief media hits, interviews, etc.. But it's one of the things that made me sure the Habs would pick him.

 

And then there is the C factor. Here, the gamble is that Suzy-Dach is a potential Cup-winning duo down the middle. I would feel more confident in Suzy-Wright. The logic is, if two prospects are close in value, pick the C.

 

So what should have been a day of excitement is now cloudy with doubt, at least for me.

 

Wright, Slaf, and Cooley will be compared for years to come. It's going to be interesting who comes out on top. 

 

But it had better be Slaf. I am so damned sick of the Habs either blowing high picks, or trading the good ones away. No more.

 

 

 

 

I'm glad they took Slaf the Giraffe but I agree and thought they would take Wright for that reason.  Players that are the constantly improve type are the 1's they need to start targeting, and especially in later rounds.  Hughes said as much too when he said he wants players like Marchand, because he's still getting better. 

 

I was definitely worried how this day would go but I am excited after today.  They're bigger, stronger, and more developed so they will rebound quicker.   Price saying he'll be ready was also big.  

 

The pacifists can think whatever they want, but its just my personal *opinion* that after Monty got bumped in 1 game and none of the Habs did anything about it, that was brought up in close to a dozen games by 2 dozen US commentators.  Everybody says the Habs are small and weak.   One of their tallest and heaviest teams they've had since 93 made it to the Cup finals.  i.e. they need some more large forwards, and preferably ones that are mean and tough vs teddy bear variety.  ex:  Armia is not mean or tough, he's just big, but the point is that he wasnt injured in the Cup Final. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Well...as this bombshell settles in, I think the following:

 

I usually lament teams picking the safe pick over the higher-ceiling pick. That was Timmins' modus operandi, it seems to me, and the result was a billion second- and third-liners and no stars. By contrast, the Habs swung for the fences with the pick (although the kid *was* top choice on about half the experts' lists, so it's not like this was a radical move). I can hardly complain that management declined the safe choice - I guess.

 

I'd also been concerned earlier in the year about the descriptors around Wright. People say "Patrice Bergeron," but I also hear "Bo Horvat." Horvat is a great player but not what I want with a #1 overall pick. It seems as though three NHL teams shared similar reservations that Wright would be a very fine player, but not necessarily a really high-impact player. (Ironically, I had talked myself out of these reservations by draft day).

 

The thing that lingers with me is Wright's attitude. He just seems to burn with pride and competitiveness. His humiliation today will only fuel that all the more. I get the sense that he is one of those players who does absolutely everything humanly possible to improve as a player, one of those guys with an off-the-chart drive to excel. I'm not sure Slaf the Giraffe or Cooley have that same aura. This is, of course, totally subjective, based on brief media hits, interviews, etc.. But it's one of the things that made me sure the Habs would pick him.

 

And then there is the C factor. Here, the gamble is that Suzy-Dach is a potential Cup-winning duo down the middle. I would feel more confident in Suzy-Wright. The logic is, if two prospects are close in value, pick the C.

 

So what should have been a day of excitement is now cloudy with doubt, at least for me.

 

Wright, Slaf, and Cooley will be compared for years to come. It's going to be interesting who comes out on top. 

 

But it had better be Slaf. I am so damned sick of the Habs either blowing high picks, or trading the good ones away. No more.

 

 

 

I’m not as concerned abounds the Slafkovsky pick - I was hoping to get a centre, but I don’t want to make the mistake again of going for the safer, more complete player (Wickeneiser), than someone who is more dynamic (Savard), although in that draft, Wickeneiser’s size played a huge factor in his selection. The size fetish does scare me about Slafkovsky as well though. I’m willing to trust the new management teams judgement on the selection of the first pick.

 

what was puzzling to me though was the double trade for the following reasons:

1) we are a train wreck on D, and just traded our most consistent Dman.  Now I think on a good team, Romanov is probably is at best a middle pairing dman. The issue we have is that I don’t think we have any legit top pairing dman. And that includes Petry -  if we keep him (which I doubt we will).
We’ve got a bunch of bottom pairing dman in on our existing roster. Can Guhle be a top pairing dman, or at least a second pairing? Maybe. But I doubt if he is ready for that role next year. Maybe he can come in like a Fox, or Makar and have immediate success, even though he may not be as good as they are. But that’s a lot to ask for a young dman in his first year. Hell Hughes went through growing pains in Vancouver. We also have Baron, who potentially be able to be a top pairing dman, but his ceiling is probably that of a second pairing dman. Outside of those two, we have Logan Mailloux. I doubt he is in the NHL next year. So in the absence of major trades, I think we have no legit top pairing dman, and one proven second pairing dman in Petry - and he will likely be traded.

 

2) as much as I don’t like giving up Romanov, I liked making a move to move  up. Ballsy. But why the hell do we trade that pick for Dach???  He hasn’t proven anything yet and in his third post draft year, he has not shown that he should have been. Top 3 pick. Hell, he hasn’t shown that he should have been a top 15 pick!!!!  He certainly has not show. He is better than Caufield who we picked at 15 that year!! I don’t get giving up a 13th and third round pick for a guy who hasn’t shown he can be a top 6 centre yet. And let’s face it we haven’t had success with number 3 overall picks (Galchenyuk, Drouin, KK).  This seems like a size fetish again. I hate reading a guy skated well for a guy his size!!! Either he is an elite skater, or he isn’t, and todays game is all about speed. Chicago is blowing things up to rebuild and is trading a 22 year old. Is that the guy we want??? I would have preferred hanging onto the pick and seeing if we couldn’t use that to move up and pick a dman, or pick a guy like Kemmel. 

 

3) are we rushing the rebuild? Next year is an obvious year to get a generational player. Why not draft more talent this year, try and get that generational player  and go for it after that. We will be rid of some of bad contracts by than (Byron), and have less term remaining on other bad contracts (Armia, Savard, Hoffman). So why are we rushing it??? All bets are off for next year anyways without greater certainty about Price. And we won’t have clarity on him until training camp when he actually plays some exhibition games.  

 

I know we aren’t done. I think we probably move Petry, Anderson, Dvorak - hopefully to help improve the D, and I’m glad as hell that Letang is not an option anymore. But I really would have preferred picking up other picks. I’m hoping I’m wrong and Dach comes in and becomes a 1A centre, but he hasn’t show. Signs of it yet.

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2 minutes ago, Sir_Boagalott said:

 

I'm glad they took Slaf the Giraffe but I agree and thought they would take Wright for that reason.  Players that are the constantly improve type are the 1's they need to start targeting, and especially in later rounds.  Hughes said as much too when he said he wants players like Marchand, because he's still getting better. 

 

I was definitely worried how this day would go but I am excited after today.  They're bigger, stronger, and more developed so they will rebound quicker.   Price saying he'll be ready was also big.  

 

The pacifists can think whatever they want, but its just my personal *opinion* that after Monty got bumped in 1 game and none of the Habs did anything about it, that was brought up in close to a dozen games by 2 dozen US commentators.  Everybody says the Habs are small and weak.   One of their tallest and heaviest teams they've had since 93 made it to the Cup finals.  i.e. they need some more large forwards, and preferably ones that are mean and tough vs teddy bear variety.  ex:  Armia is not mean or tough, he's just big, but the point is that he wasnt injured in the Cup Final. 

 

 

How did the mean and tough blues do agianst the Avs?  How useful was Kassian for the Oilers?

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HuGo’s plan maybe to sign PLD in two years or maybe they expect an impact centre in next year’s draft. 
 

Dach only cost us Romanov. If Dach was already proven it would have cost significantly more. 
 

Our team got bigger upfront and not just size, they are skilled. 
 

I expect more trades. 
 

HuGo are swinging for the fences and I can’t wait to see it unfold. 

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5 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

How did the mean and tough blues do agianst the Avs?  How useful was Kassian for the Oilers?

Comparing Kassian to Slaf is like drag racing a dump truck versus a Ford F250 that has a suped up engine.

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