Juraj Slafkovsky Is Getting on Track

Juraj Slafkovsky has been used in various ways in his young NHL career. I have disagreed with some but lately, the Canadiens have been pushing the right buttons. Putting him back on the top line was the right move.

If you draft a player with the intention of him being a potential franchise player then you have to put him on the top line with your top players. When the Canadiens did that again, they got great results from him. He has 13 of his 28 points on the season since the move. Is this a surprise? No, it’s not. Finally, other teams in the league are doing this instead of making their prospects work their way up and sticking them on a third line with players who don’t have the same skill level as the prospect.

My expectation for Slafkovsky is 51 points. He had 50 last season, and considering how the season was going for him for a while, beating that would be great. He’s projected to get 48 at this pace but I want more. And I think he can provide that down the stretch.

At 20, the talented Slovak is getting back on track. Development cycles can be tricky but bigger players have more moving parts and have to be handled with patience. I like his confidence on the power play. He’s picking top corners again.

On the Nick Suzuki goal against the New Jersey Devils. Slafkovsky made a great pass and showed off his work ethic on the boards winning puck battles and pushing a player with one arm to get the puck. He gets rewarded with the assist and that line continues to cook. That’s development and on that play, he looked like the prospect we all knew he could be.