Slafkovsky is gonna be great when he figures it all out

Forums/Armchair-GM

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Created by: jonh514

Team: 2023-24 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: May 22, 2023

Published: May 22, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

I was reviewing Slafkovsky's numbers as the World Championships in the context of comparing them to Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson and was surprised by the reflection that either those players are doing poorly, or his numbers were incredible.

The thing is, he played for Slovakia at the WC in his D-1 season as well, and he put up a huge 0 points, which makes his 3 goals and 6 assists 1 year later all the more compelling.
Slafkovsky seems to step it up in big games on the international stage (7 goals during the Covid-year Olympics).

I have been keeping my NHL expectations for him rather low for next season, but is it possible we see him come back with another huge development leap as we've seen year to year at the WC?

It's exciting to think what he's going to be able to do in the NHL when he adjusts to his new environment. I realize now just how big a gamble HuGo took and why they are hoping exposure at this level is going to result in Slaf emerging as a truly dominant player. It's basically Jagr or bust!

Free Agent Signings

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Caufield, Cole	8	$7,875,000
Harvey-Pinard, Rafaël	3	$2,000,000
Pezzetta, Michael	1	$800,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Richard, Anthony		1	$800,000
Belzile, Alex		1	$800,000

Buyouts

Karl Alzner: $833,333
Mike Hoffman: $1,166,667

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2023
2024
2025

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

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TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
23	$83,500,000	$66,140,833	$1,170,000	$4,195,000	$17,359,167

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Caufield, Cole $7,875,000$7,875,000 LW, RW UFA - 8	Suzuki, Nick $7,875,000$7,875,000 C UFA - 7	Slafkovsky, Juraj $950,000$950,000 ($3,500,000$4M) RW, LW RFA - 2
Harvey-Pinard, Rafaël $2,000,000$2,000,000 LW, RW RFA - 2	Dach, Kirby $3,362,500$3,362,500 C, RW RFA - 3	Anderson, Josh $5,500,000$5,500,000 RW, LW M-NTC UFA - 4
Pezzetta, Michael $800,000$800,000 LW, RW UFA - 2	Dvorak, Christian $4,450,000$4,450,000 C M-NTC UFA - 2	Gallagher, Brendan $6,500,000$6,500,000 RW, LW M-NTC, NMC UFA - 4
Richard, Anthony $800,000$800,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Evans, Jake $1,700,000$1,700,000 C UFA - 2	Armia, Joel $3,400,000$3,400,000 RW, LW UFA - 2
	Belzile, Alex $800,000$800,000 C, RW UFA - 2

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Matheson, Michael $4,875,000$4,875,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 3	Barron, Justin $925,000$925,000 ($275,000$275K) RD RFA - 1	Montembeault, Samuel $1,000,000$1,000,000 G UFA - 1
Guhle, Kaiden $863,333$863,333 ($420,000$420K) LD/RD RFA - 2	Savard, David $3,500,000$3,500,000 RD UFA - 2	Allen, Jake $1,925,000$1,925,000 G M-NTC UFA - 2
Xhekaj, Arber $828,333$828,333 LD/RD RFA - 1	Harris, Jordan $1,400,000$1,400,000 LD/RD RFA - 2
Edmundson, Joel $875,000$875,000 LD/RD M-NTC UFA - 1	Kovacevic, Johnathan $766,667$766,667 RD UFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
		Price, Carey $10,500,000$10,500,000 G NMC UFA - 3

May 22, 2023 at 3:35 a.m.

notbiased

Joined: Feb. 2023

Posts: 85

Likes: 65

true, even draisaitl didn't look great at first

jonh514 liked this.

May 22, 2023 at 4:29 a.m.

HabsCanucks

Joined: Dec. 2022

Posts: 471

Likes: 147

People are really weird about high draft picks. We likely won't know what we have in Slafkovsky for another couple years at least, which is fine because he is still a teenager.

jonh514 liked this.

May 22, 2023 at 6:01 a.m.

jonh514

Thread Starter

HuGo is a Boss GM

Joined: Dec. 2021

Posts: 7,197

Likes: 3,145

Quoting: HabsCanucks

People are really weird about high draft picks. We likely won't know what we have in Slafkovsky for another couple years at least, which is fine because he is still a teenager.

I hear you. I was just surprised how well he did in the context of those tournaments. He was so good at the WC and Olympics... It's somewhat shocking.

May 22, 2023 at 9:50 a.m.

HeadHighSauce

Dougie HIMilton

Joined: Sep. 2020

Posts: 3,071

Likes: 1,628

Quoting: jonh514

I hear you. I was just surprised how well he did in the context of those tournaments. He was so good at the WC and Olympics... It's somewhat shocking.

He was also mediocre in professional play. This is roughly what I expected from him.

Remember, Devils picked 2nd so I was very interested in these players and I really did NOT want Slafkovsky. I wanted Cooley.

May 22, 2023 at 9:59 a.m.

jonh514

Thread Starter

HuGo is a Boss GM

Joined: Dec. 2021

Posts: 7,197

Likes: 3,145

Quoting: HeadHighSauce

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

He's currently leading his draft class in NHL games played and points.

It seems you are saying he will be a mediocre NHL player and this post is about how I think he will be a star in 2-3 years and much better next year.

Let's check in next offseason and see who was right!

May 22, 2023 at 10:07 a.m.

HeadHighSauce

Dougie HIMilton

Joined: Sep. 2020

Posts: 3,071

Likes: 1,628

Quoting: jonh514

It's not too much of an achievement to lead you draft class in NHL games played and points in your D+1 as a 1OA lol Ekblad lead Drai for 2 years. Hischier lead Pettersson and Makar for 2 or 3.

and no im not even saying that he'd be mediocre (I think he'll be a solid top 6 winger). Just saying that if youre going to use his international play to extrapolate that he'll be great, you should consider his mediocre professional play in every league he's been in as well.

May 22, 2023 at 6:01 p.m.

Nick_SUCCzuki

Suczuking Kotkaniemi

Joined: Mar. 2021

Posts: 326

Likes: 125

Even though Slaf didnt have a great rookie season, you can tell he has all the skills to excel in the NHL. He had a lot of "almost" plays where he made a move around one guy but got checked by the other, and as he gets older, stronger and smarter I'm sure he will have a long career with us.

Xavier02 and jonh514 liked this.

May 22, 2023 at 6:47 p.m.

jonh514

Thread Starter

HuGo is a Boss GM

Joined: Dec. 2021

Posts: 7,197

Likes: 3,145

Quoting: HeadHighSauce

Quoting: jonh514

I have been keeping my NHL expectations for him rather low for next season, but is it possible we see him come back with another huge development leap as we've seen year to year at the WC?

We'll, I would say the tone of this article starts from the premise that I had low expectations, but I am raising them based on the jump we say from WC 2021 (0 points) to WC 2022 (9 points).

I am by no means saying he's gonna play like Jagr next year, but I AM kinda hoping. That would make my decade!

HeadHighSauce liked this.

May 22, 2023 at 6:50 p.m.

jonh514

Thread Starter

HuGo is a Boss GM

Joined: Dec. 2021

Posts: 7,197

Likes: 3,145

Quoting: Nick_SUCCzuki

Not sure how much stronger he needs to get. Hopefully he can get more explosiveness in his skating. I think the real thing though, would be if some of those soft hands plays while charging the net we saw in the World Championships make it to the NHL

Nick_SUCCzuki liked this.

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