Montreal Canadiens Select Juraj Slafkovsky

[hockeyrealist]

27 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

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. 

 
ugh PLD is not the answer.

 

A cancer that coasts half the time and will melt under spotlight of Mtl.

 

[hockeyrealist]

5 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

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.

Felt obliged to point out that Romy was not the most consistent dman.  
Eddy is that, Romy had some huge swings in his play/decision making but had seemed to be growing into a solid player so I am surprised they gave up on him after enduring the ups and downs and investing heavily in him. 
But the coaches/management also see him a lot more and def know more than I do so perhaps they saw something there but I do not like losing him and not for Dach essentially.

[alfredoh2009]

2 hours ago, hockeyrealist said:

Felt obliged to point out that Romy was not the most consistent dman.  
Eddy is that, Romy had some huge swings in his play/decision making but had seemed to be growing into a solid player so I am surprised they gave up on him after enduring the ups and downs and investing heavily in him. 
But the coaches/management also see him a lot more and def know more than I do so perhaps they saw something there but I do not like losing him and not for Dach essentially.

 

Romanov makes me think a lot of a young Subban: full of energy, wants to get better, absorbs teachings like a sponge, has shown upside

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

7 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

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.

 

Good thoughts. On Dach, that really is a case where we have to trust our management group. They obviously believe that Dach has legitimate top-6 C potential and that he will discover it in Montreal. That was a very important trade, not just because we gave up a quality young D, but because Dach represents Hugh-Gort’s answer to our future at C. (If the “plan” is to sign Dubois in two years, that is not a plan at all. A lot can happen in two years, and there is a high risk of being outbid).

 

I’m sure Slaf will be a good player - a Josh Anderson at worst. (In fact, I rather like the idea of having both of those guys on the team!). The Pacioretty comparison bothers me, though. Patches is a terrific player, but I learned from watching his streaky play that it is a big mistake to make a streaky player the key offensive cog on your team. Now maybe between CC and Suzuki, Slaf’s inconsistency won’t be the Achilles’ Heel that Pacioretty’s was when he was our best player. Let’s hope. (I’m also concerned by the amount of rhetoric that says “imagine this guy playing with Suzuki and Caufield!” I don’t believe in drafting that way, like you’re assembling a team with hockey cards. You pick the BPA and worry later how your roster hangs together).

 

You make a shrewd remark with (3). This hasn’t been picked up on enough. The pre-draft commentaries agreed that, while he might not be the top pick, Slaf was the most “NHL ready” of the Big Three. Then the Habs go and get a 22-year-old C with three years’ NHL experience. Put 2 + 2 together and it looks as though HughGort are looking to rebound as quickly as possible. That is surprising to me - but important info if we want to understand the team’s philosophy. (It also suggests that Molson may be a player behind the scenes, indicating that, while he can tolerate a rebuild, it had better not take too long before playoff revenue starts coming in).

 

You’re totally right about the D. Right now it is probably the worst D in all of hockey. That said, we seem to have a pile of blueline prospects already, so maybe we won’t miss Romy in 2-3 years. But that’s the head-scratcher here: we “accelerated the rebuild” up front, but **decelerated** it on the back end. 

 

If I’m HughGort, I trade/UFA shop for a couple of veteran Kulak types who can hopefully be signed for no more than three years max. Create a buffer for the kids.

 

Never a dull moment!

[hab29RETIRED]

2 hours ago, hockeyrealist said:

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

was making point in reference to Dach fight video link.

[DON]

Well that was a  huge surprise, hope he is closer to a Jagr and not an Antropov.

Obviously 3 other teams didnt think Wright was the BPA neither and was flip a coin in the rankings to begin with, so i have zero complaints about pick...if he pans out could be real impact player.

[huzer]

I'm still leery about this pick. The cliche of "boy playing against men" is one such statement I'm tired of. I mean, my 12 year old is a good goalie, and better than quite a few adult goalies. Boy against man, indeed. (Yes, exaggeration, but you get my point). I would've thought (and still do) that in a close horse race, you take the C over a W. Probably flawed thinking on my part, especially after the years of Bergevin brainwashing of "centers are hard to find/get". It would be interesting to hear what deficiencies there are in Wright that convinced the Habs to choose Slafkovsky.

 

I will admit, when Bettman announced a trade, I initially thought the Habs pulled off moving up to get Wright, too.

[alfredoh2009]

4 minutes ago, huzer said:

I'm still leery about this pick. The cliche of "boy playing against men" is one such statement I'm tired of. I mean, my 12 year old is a good goalie, and better than quite a few adult goalies. Boy against man, indeed. (Yes, exaggeration, but you get my point). I would've thought (and still do) that in a close horse race, you take the C over a W. Probably flawed thinking on my part, especially after the years of Bergevin brainwashing of "centers are hard to find/get". It would be interesting to hear what deficiencies there are in Wright that convinced the Habs to choose Slafkovsky.

 

I will admit, when Bettman announced a trade, I initially thought the Habs pulled off moving up to get Wright, too.

 

I think Bergevin did a good job in getting Suzuki, Evans, Poehling and Dvorak down the middle. That made it possible to draft Sclsfkovsky over Wright or Cooley: specially with the Dach acquisition.

 

Mysak seems like a decent 3rd line center. Kidney, Farrel, Roy are also in the pipeline. Not a bad situation at centre

[Habsfan89]

Seen an interview with Wright before the draft, he had said he didn't want to go down in the farm system to play. He wanted to play in the NHL right away. Wonder if that played on Montreal not picking him. Especially since we're rebuilding. 

[dlbalr]

7 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Mysak seems like a decent 3rd line center. Kidney, Farrel, Roy are also in the pipeline. Not a bad situation at centre

 

I think Mysak is a winger in the pros while Farrell and Roy are also wingers.

[huzer]

2 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

 

I think Bergevin did a good job in getting Suzuki, Evans, Poehling and Dvorak down the middle. That made it possible to draft Sclsfkovsky over Wright or Cooley: specially with the Dach acquisition.

 

Mysak seems like a decent 3rd line center. Kidney, Farrel, Roy are also in the pipeline. Not a bad situation at centre

 

I wouldn't exactly call that strength down the middle. I'd call that a group of centers on the last place team in the NHL. Hopefully Dvorak has a better season this year. I wouldn't call 1st rounder Poehling being a fringe NHLers a "good job". Part of the disappointing failure of Habs 1st round picks.

[dlbalr]

6 minutes ago, Habsfan89 said:

Seen an interview with Wright before the draft, he had said he didn't want to go down in the farm system to play. He wanted to play in the NHL right away. Wonder if that played on Montreal not picking him. Especially since we're rebuilding. 

 

He can't play in anyone's farm system for two years since he was drafted from the CHL, that's a league-wide rule.  That wouldn't have affected Montreal's opinion of him, they knew it was either the NHL or junior for Wright.

[alfredoh2009]

Just now, dlbalr said:

 

I think Mysak is a winger in the pros while Farrell and Roy are also wingers.

I wasn't sure

so there is Kidney an dmaybe Schnarr as a 4th line C

[dlbalr]

13 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I wasn't sure

so there is Kidney an dmaybe Schnarr as a 4th line C

 

I'm not convinced Schnarr is still in the organization after next week.  He's a coin flip to receive a qualifying offer.

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

33 minutes ago, huzer said:

I'm still leery about this pick. The cliche of "boy playing against men" is one such statement I'm tired of.

 

Yet many will criticize Arber's accomplishments as just playing against boys.  Being the MVP at the Olympics as a 17 year old is pretty impressive. 

 

No guarantees but I  love this pick.  There were 3 teams that passed on Wright so obviously HuGo weren't alone in having concerns. 

[huzer]

3 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Yet many will criticize Arber's accomplishments as just playing against boys.  Being the MVP at the Olympics as a 17 year old is pretty impressive. 

 

No guarantees but I  love this pick.  There were 3 teams that passed on Wright so obviously HuGo weren't alone in having concerns. 

 

It's a tired trope. Just say he's a talented player. It's a statement that seems to especially follow young European players the play Liiga or SHL as a teen. Usually it's used as a hedge against poor stats to back up a lofty draft position.

 

Anyway, I'm not going to pretend I'm a prospect/draft expert. Merely a fan that's watched a few drafts. I know we've had a regime change, but the lack of success for the Habs at the draft table for what feels like decades has me skeptical, especially with the Habs failures when they've gone "big".

[hab29RETIRED]

1 hour ago, huzer said:

I'm still leery about this pick. The cliche of "boy playing against men" is one such statement I'm tired of. I mean, my 12 year old is a good goalie, and better than quite a few adult goalies. Boy against man, indeed. (Yes, exaggeration, but you get my point). I would've thought (and still do) that in a close horse race, you take the C over a W. Probably flawed thinking on my part, especially after the years of Bergevin brainwashing of "centers are hard to find/get". It would be interesting to hear what deficiencies there are in Wright that convinced the Habs to choose Slafkovsky.

 

I will admit, when Bettman announced a trade, I initially thought the Habs pulled off moving up to get Wright, too.

That was what I thought the second trade was going to be. Hence my disappointment in getting Dach.

[hab29RETIRED]

35 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Yet many will criticize Arber's accomplishments as just playing against boys.  Being the MVP at the Olympics as a 17 year old is pretty impressive. 

 

No guarantees but I  love this pick.  There were 3 teams that passed on Wright so obviously HuGo weren't alone in having concerns. 

Well one of those teams wasn’t going to take A centre. 
 

let’s hope that Slafkovsky becomes a Jagr type of guy.

[Dalhabs]

Im over the dissapointment a bit and just hope he will become our star winger together with Caufield. Maybe Marian Hossa production?

 

[Commandant]

1 hour ago, huzer said:

 

It's a tired trope. Just say he's a talented player. It's a statement that seems to especially follow young European players the play Liiga or SHL as a teen. Usually it's used as a hedge against poor stats to back up a lofty draft position.

 

Anyway, I'm not going to pretend I'm a prospect/draft expert. Merely a fan that's watched a few drafts. I know we've had a regime change, but the lack of success for the Habs at the draft table for what feels like decades has me skeptical, especially with the Habs failures when they've gone "big".

 

There is no doubt that Slaf was great at the olympics.  He was good at the WC but that has to be tempered with most of his points coming against teams like Italy and Latvia.. but still played well there. 

 

The issue is that he wasn't good in Liiga.  So the three weeks of good play have to be balanced against 5 goals and 5 assists in 40+ games in the Finnish League. 

 

That doesn't scream NHL ready to me. 

[alfredoh2009]

3 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

There is no doubt that Slaf was great at the olympics.  He was good at the WC but that has to be tempered with most of his points coming against teams like Italy and Latvia.. but still played well there. 

 

The issue is that he wasn't good in Liiga.  So the three weeks of good play have to be balanced against 5 goals and 5 assists in 40+ games in the Finnish League. 

 

That doesn't scream NHL ready to me. 

 

so, @Commandant, are you still on board with Hugh-Gort on their drafting? I am still undecided and would like to read your opinion

[Commandant]

6 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

 

so, @Commandant, are you still on board with Hugh-Gort on their drafting? I am still undecided and would like to read your opinion

 

I don't like #1 overall, I would have taken wright. 

 

That said Slafkovsky still has a ton of potential. I just don't think he's NHL ready.  I'd keep him in Laval or Finland.

 

I am very happy with Mesar, Hutson, Beck, Rohrez

 

I didn't like Engstrom. 

 

I do like Guindon

 

 

[GHT120]

1 minute ago, Commandant said:

... That said Slafkovsky still has a ton of potential. I just don't think he's NHL ready.  I'd keep him in Laval or Finland ...

Of the two, Laval gives them more control over his development and allows for a promotion if he earns it

[alfredoh2009]

8 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

I don't like #1 overall, I would have taken wright. 

 

That said Slafkovsky still has a ton of potential. I just don't think he's NHL ready.  I'd keep him in Laval or Finland.

 

I am very happy with Mesar, Hutson, Beck, Rohrez

 

I didn't like Engstrom. 

 

I do like Guindon

 

 

 

thanks for sharing.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I’m reading reports from twitter folks that Slaf is walking around Bell Centre introducing himself to fans. 
 

I think he is going to become a fan favourite