Juraj Slafkovský became the most useful player of the Olympics. Yes, there were no NHL players in the tournament, but they were also missing four years ago, and then the most useful player was star Ilya Kovalchuk.
The competition from top European players was still huge. The Slovak is only seventeen years old, so he was originally supposed to show whether much more experienced players would be enough. That’s why he started in the fourth formation in the tournament.
Slafkovský not only was enough for them, but he was the best. Not only from Slovaks, but from everyone. He was better than all the Russians, Finns or Swedes from the KHL and the Nordic leagues. Better than Stanley Cup winners and seasoned veterans Eric Staal and David Krejčí. Better than Vadim Šipačov, the most productive KHL player.
Don’t forget that it was only one tournament, but it’s still a big deal. Slafkovský is now on the list of holders of this award, for example, together with Teemu Selänn (2014) or Joe Sakaki (2002).
Today, it is almost certain that he will be chosen among the top ten players in the next draft. With the Olympics, his chances increased significantly. It is already said that he has almost the same top five and is also a candidate for the top three.
Some experts do thinksthat Canadian Shane Wright, who has long been considered the main favorite for the draft unit, should also be worried about his place.
Not so long ago, Slafkovský woke his parents to take him to training, and he also heard that he would never be a hockey player.
When so many experts say he’s like Jagr, there’s something to it
Hockey beginnings are not easy. Zdena Chára was sent to basketball when she was young, and Tomáš Tatar claims that he was ignored in Slovakia until he was eighteen because of his small character.
Slafkovský also went through the questioning. His parents tried to confront him with foreign rivals. Therefore, they traveled to tournaments in Canada and Slafkovský tried youth hockey in clubs in Austria, the Czech Republic and Finland.
It didn’t go smoothly everywhere. One of the worst moments came when Slafkovský was a quarterback. Back then
