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Slovak forward Juraj Slafkovský survived an embarrassing debut in the NHL. After dominating the draft, he jumped right into the big event in the Montreal Canadiens jersey, despite some doubts.
The player from the Tatras played a total of 39 matches, scored 4 goals and assisted in another 6. Since December, he has been on an unfavorable streak without a point, but he did not have time to end it. His debut season was cut short by an injury in January. For many, it is therefore more difficult to determine whether and by how much he has fallen short of various expectations.
According to journalist Brian Wilde, despite the less than ideal start, the last draft pick does not have to worry about more starts for the Canadiens in the upcoming season. “I’m sure they won’t trade him down to Laval. He didn’t do anything wrong except get hurt. Before that happened, they were happy with him in the NHL. You can’t punish a player because he’s injured.” he said in a radio interview TSN 690.
Although he assumes that the management of Montreal will give the young forward games in the first team, he does not fully agree with the philosophy of deploying rookies. If he was a coach, he would rather mark him on the roster with a pencil that can be erased. The overseas expert would like to see Juraj Slafkovský, like most Slovak fans, in a national team jersey.
Juraj Slafkovsky and Florida Panthers goalkeeper Sergej Bobrovsky
Source: TASR
“I think they wrote it down with a pen, but I’m definitely in favor of a pencil. I never thought he should be in Montreal. I wanted him to go the way of the junior championship, the farm in Laval, the world championship. I wanted him to learn to play hockey at a different level than the NHL. The NHL is hard, you can lose a lot of time in it.”
According to the journalist, the Slovak should improve primarily his work with the puck but also his shooting in the next camps. “How much do you learn when you don’t have the puck? The attacker must have it. He had him on his stick for three, four or five seconds during the entire match. The number of shots on goal per match is also a very good statistic. Juraj Slafkovský has one. Sometimes it’s very simple. If you don’t shoot, you can’t succeed and you won’t learn much. I’d like to see him improve.’
Despite the status of the draft unit, he does not expect that the Slovak forward can make progress from day to day. He points out that it can take years before it fully manifests itself and there is no need to worry about it. As the moderator also jokingly noted, the world will not collapse after all.
“It will be okay if he doesn’t improve next season. Don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t work out. Even if it doesn’t improve in four years. It will be hard not to be nervous, but at 22 you are not an old player. Juraj Slafkovský has a lot of time to improve.”
