Martin St-Louis uses Waze to talk about Juraj Slafkovsky’s progress

Martin St-Louis’ analogies are fascinating.

The Montreal Canadiens’ head coach is never afraid to compare a player’s situation to that of a human being off the ice, and it often leads to some good moments.

This morning, he came up with another, talking about Juraj Slafkovsky.

After being asked by Martin Maguire if the young man was putting too much pressure on himself to give the right answers, St-Louis stated from the outset that, in his eyes, the answer is yes…

He then drew a parallel between Slaf’s progress and the itinerary of a car journey.

To make it simple, Martin St-Louis based himself on the Waze application, which serves as a GPS for its users. The coach explained that to use it, you open the application to enter the address you want to get to, and Waze gives you an estimated time for the journey.

But sometimes, things get complicated on the way for whatever reason. Traffic, missing an exit… And it can be frustrating to have to add minutes to the journey because we all want to get there as quickly as possible.

But when that happens, even though it’s frustrating, you don’t turn around and go home. You just keep waiting until you get there…

And that’s what Martin St-Louis wanted to explain about Slafkovsky.

Juraj Slafkovsky is on his way to a beautiful destination. We don’t know when he’ll get there, but sometimes there’s traffic and he can’t be angry or discouraged […] It’s hard for a young player to miss an outing or be in traffic, but that’s the case for everyone.

Not crazy.

The coach ‘s way of thinking is interesting.

In all this, we understand that Martin St-Louis wants us to be patient when talking about the young man, because it’s normal to see him going through more difficult times at his age.

One thing at a time, as the saying goes. Deep down, the Habs want to take the time they need to develop their player properly. If it takes a long time… It’ll take a long time. But the important thing is that Slafkovsky will be able to reach his destination at some point in his career.

Right now, it’s a bit difficult for some people to see anything positive about Slafkovsky because he hasn’t had the start to the season that was expected. Criticism is rife because many feel that the club is hindering his progress…

The idea of sending him to Laval has been mentioned many times, but it doesn’t seem to be the Montreal organization’s plan at the moment.

If things continue to be difficult, however… One wonders whether the Habs will copy the Ducks’ strategy with Leo Carlsson. Carlsson hasn’t played in every one of his team’s games so far this season: he’s sometimes left on the sidelines to watch games from the top of the catwalk, which can help a young player understand the game better.

If the Habs go ahead with this plan, Slafkovsky would be moved from the top three to the stands… But if it helps him in the end, that’s what’s important at the end of the day.

Because it seems to be working with Leo Carlsson in Anaheim, who has three goals and an assist in seven games this season:

All this to say that Martin St-Louis wants us to continue to be patient with the young man.

The Waze platform has heard the coach’s comments, obviously… And it took the opportunity to remind us that it “will always be there” despite the detours.

Well done.

No worries if you make a detour; we’ll always be here 🤗

– waze (@waze) November 6, 2023

In bursts

– Good point.

– Whew.

– Matt Duchene is sidelined.

– Nothing surprises me about him.