Let’s take pleasure today in debunking not one, but two myths that have become entrenched in people’s minds due to repetition: Guhle is a fragile player and Slafkovsky is having an ordinary season!
Guhle: War is dangerous!
Thus, Kaiden Guhle, 23, would have reached his 9th serious injury since being drafted.
All media have talked about it ad nauseam and everyone has asked this question: is poor Kaiden fragile or just unlucky?
False classic debate!
Guhle does not get injured because he is made of soft skin, or because he is fragile!
He is a super athlete, well-trained at 6’03”, 202 lbs. His skeleton is protected by muscles well above average, his ligaments are much stronger than those of the average citizen, etc.
The quadriceps of any player will get torn if we cut it with a skate!
Body parts of anyone will break if exposed to risks causing violent shocks and serious “accidents.”
Now, of course, a laceration of the quadriceps by his own skate is an unfortunate accident.
But a great universal principle says that misfortunes and accidents happen much more often to those who are more “intense,” to those who don’t pay much attention or who are less cautious!
For two years, Guhle has promised himself at the season’s start that he wants to avoid injuries and stay healthy by “exposing himself less” to them.
However, even though we have seen a bit of progress in his approach, Guhle still gets injured consistently because he struggles to play as if there is no tomorrow.
There is a lot of benefit in hockey to playing at the edge of being a kamikaze like he does. We are talking about a sport where a large part of victory comes from a form of sacrifice or total self-abnegation of players/warriors on the ice.
But it’s also much riskier for the individual!
If you look closely at the sequence, yes, his skate gets caught in a crack, but beforehand, Guhle goes into the corner recklessly, already a bit unbalanced on one leg, at a slightly awkward angle, to get to the puck first. If he arrives more “square” in relation to the play, on both feet, he wouldn’t lose his balance because of the small crack in the ice.
On the ice, if you go all out, you expose yourself more to all types of unimaginable dangers.
Regardless, the crack in the ice, a player just a little less intense, a bit more cautious or cerebral in his approach, let’s say, Nick Suzuki, probably wouldn’t fall into such a sequence.
So, Guhle is not fragile. He simply plays as if he were on the front lines at Vimy in 1917.
And that, well, is more dangerous and often hurts.
That’s all.
Slafkovsky: still comparable to the best power forwards at the same age
Of course, Slafkovsky has not been convincing or dominant every night this season, far from it.
But at the same time, has Slafkovsky, still 20 years old, necessarily experienced several truly “bad” games?
No.
So, one might say that Slaf is simply having an ordinary season.
Even Kent Hughes had to meet with him after the December 3 game against the Islanders to clarify some things with him.
Among other things, as he told Processus, remind him that he was not Jack Hughes, but Juraj Slafkovsky.
Simply put.
All this is very good and very healthy.
But it remains that statistically, the big Slovak has still scored 20 points in 27 games when he plays on his regular line with Suzuki and Caufield.
We’re talking about a projection of 61 points in 82 games! Not far from the 70-point season that the more optimistic gave him at the start of the season and right on target for those, more moderate, who projected 60.
Should we remind that these projections were made with the understanding that he would play most of the year with Suzuki and Caufield?
However, Slaf was separated from his two teammates from October 29 to December 14, a long purgatory of 21 games on other lines, such as these:
NICK SUZUKI – KIRBY DACH – JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY
JAKE EVANS – ALEX NEWHOOK – JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY
PATRIK LAINE – KIRBY DACH – JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY
BRENDAN GALLAGHER – CHRISTIAN DVORAK – JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY
That was among other things the period when they were desperately trying to revive Kirby Dach.
During this stretch without his usual partners, Slaf scored 9 points in 21 games. Not bad for any 20-year-old player in the NHL, but not exceptional for a first overall pick in 2022, let’s agree.
That said, statistics don’t tell everything. Slaf has also been involved in many power-play goals without necessarily collecting points, playing a bit like Chris Kreider in front of the net, complicating the goalkeeper’s life.
So, considering all that and despite a very imperfect first half of the season, if Slaf had played 21 more games on the “first line,” he would probably be on track for a 60-point season – a target still achievable if he continues on his current pace – while being a hassle in front of the net on the pp.
55-60 points at 20 years old is comparable, even better, than the Tkachuk brothers, Draisaitl, and Rantanen at the same age, and none of them were in the NHL at 18…
So, not exactly “ordinary,” Slaf. Even his current season.
A perspective, just like that…
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