Montréal or Laval: Slafkovsky must get back in the game and score points

Although I could have lived with any one of Slafkovsky, Cooley or Wright in the 2022 draft, my preference had always been for the big Slovak.

More powerful, stronger and a character made for big occasions, made for Montreal.

Slaf inspired my confidence.

A lot more than Wright, anyway.

Cooley?

I thought the American might put up more points than Slafkovsky, but in the end, Slaf would do the same, while bringing a Nichushkin or Rantanen dimension to the Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup triumph.

And that’s probably what the CH managers thought, since they were already counting on Caufield and Suzuki in the Cooley style.

The CH needed bigger talent in its future top 6.

So it came as no surprise when, a few weeks later, I ranked Slaf as the CH’s top prospect for 2022. I saw #20 as an essential piece of the long-term puzzle, a key player in the team’s future playoff success.

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What’s next?

More than 15 months after his selection by the Tricolore, Slaf has yet to play a single game in the AHL, or any other league or competition.

He was the only player in the 2022 auction to play as an NHL regular at age 18.

Basically, the Montreal organization decided that the big Slovak winger would continue his development in the NHL rather than in Europe or Laval; Martin St-Louis was going to make him his project.

The reason?

Physically ready to play against men, Slafkovsky had so much to learn and refine in his game that it was just simpler and more logical to have him on site in Montreal.

GST Turku was not an option in the minds of Montreal officials, who were rather critical of the idea of continuing Slaf’s development in this organization’s hermetic style of play.

And if we’re going to send him to Laval, he might as well get his instructions straight from the horse’s mouth in Montreal.

Since then, Martin St-Louis has never missed an opportunity to praise Juraj’s ability to learn and to repeat that he sees in him a desire to improve and a constant progression in his game.

We know the rest of the song : Slaf has more touches, he’s well placed, the results will come by following the process, etc.

But with zero goals and only one assist in his last 25 games while playing 14 minutes per game, including some power-play time, the process just doesn’t seem to be working.

What’s the point?

There are two obvious reasons:

1) Simply because Slafkovsky doesn’t play with confidence.

2) He doesn’t play with confidence in good games because he doesn’t play with the right players.

The two reasons form a vicious circle from which it can be difficult to extricate oneself, we agree!

But if there are two problems, there are at least two possible solutions, and the vicious circle could turn into a virtuous one if we put our minds to it.

If he stays in Montreal, Slaf must play with Monahan

Apart from the few minutes of grace he enjoyed with Kirby Dach before the latter’s injury in the second game of the season(sorry for the sad reminder), Slafkovsky’s finest NHL outbursts came over an equally short period last year alongside Monahan.

And everything Monahan has touched since the start of the season has turned to gold ( PP, PK, Gallagher, Pearson, face-offs, etc.), so why would it be much different with Slafkovsky?

In just one of their only appearances together this season against the Coyotes in the^3rd period, Monahan outflanked the defense on the right flank and came very close to connecting with #20, who was charging straight at the goal.

If they were to converge a few more times, it’s likely that the puck would end up in the back of the net sooner or later.

It’s the kind of sequence we haven’t seen between Newhook at center and Slafkovsky since they paired up with Anderson.

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Possible combinations…

I’m not against trying Slaf with Suzuki and Caufield, for the simple reason that it can’t be worse than with Newhook and Anderson!

But to build up his confidence without adding too much pressure all of a sudden, and to go in the direction of proper NHL development (if such a thing exists), my preference would be to go with Monahan, a trio that could be completed by veteran Pearson on the left wing.

With Pearson and Monahan, we’d have two calm players with a simple, effective game who would leave Slafkovsky the space he needs to make his plays, while also being able to complete them and support him along the ramps.

Following Dvorak’s return, we could also recreate part of the trio from the start of the season by replacing Newhook on the left wing. Monahan would simply replace Dach at the center of the two youngsters.

After all, with Newhook on the wing in the first game of the season, the latter scored twice, including this time on a superb pass from Slafkovsky:

With Monahan at center and Newhook on the left wing, we add a dimension of speed that, as we’ve seen, can also be profitable.

And it would leave the Gallagher/Pearson pair intact along with Dvorak.

I’m not one of those who believe, as Stéphane Waite does, that it’s IMPERATIVE to leave Monahan’s trio of Gallagher and Pearson intact.

It’s much more important for the Habs to place Slaf and Newhook in optimal conditions than to “coddle” Gallagher and Pearson, who may be a little less productive, but will simply continue to play their own way, regardless of their center.

Didn’t Gallagher spend a good part of the last two seasons with Dvorak? So…

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Lack of speed? Not so sure…

I also more or less share Arpon Basu’s opinion on Slafkovsky in his latest text.

Unlike Basu, I’m not ready to say that Slaf doesn’t play at NHL speed.

At least, it’s not as glaring a problem as the two identified above: self-confidence and quality of trio partners.

If he played with confidence and more support, no one would be talking about Slaf‘s lack of speed.

I find that he’s often in the right place, rarely late, that his defensive and offensive reads are generally adequate and that’s why he gets a good number of touches, as MSL so aptly reminds us.

Without saying that Slaf is perfect, far from it, Newhook and Anderson rarely offer great puck support options, among others, along the ramps to achieve the famous cycle.

That’s why this trio almost never establishes the play in opposing territory; there’s no chemistry.

We’ve often seen Anderson and Newhook, both in front of the net, waiting for the puck or simply too far away from the action, not in the right places, while #20 struggles on the edge of the boards against two opponents…

The field hockey IQ of the other two doesn’t seem high enough and regularly makes the youngster look bad.

And if nothing goes right in Montreal?

But if we don’t want to play Slaf with Monahan, or if for some reason nothing works out in Montreal, Laval becomes the obvious option to restore the big forward’s confidence.

I have far fewer doubts than Basu to that effect.

Slafkovsky would immediately go from 14 to 18-20 minutes of play, in addition to playing on the first power-play unit.

He’d be allowed to make mistakes, internal pressure would diminish and, inevitably, the puck would end up in the net sooner rather than later.

This is probably what he needs most to regain his confidence: goals and points.

We don’t know if he’ll be playing with the brilliant Joshua Roy, who may well be designated to take his place in Montreal, but in any case, in Laval, Slaf would have the chance to become the go-to guy he was before he was drafted by the Slovak national team.

Personally, I’m more interested in seeing Slafkovsky make plays, take the puck up into the central zone, keep it in the zone as much as possible and bring the action to the net or deep into enemy territory.

I also want to see him regain his confidence on the PP where, in addition to continuing to make great passes, he especially needs to start shooting more often and faster. Like here:

That’s the kind of skill the Habs drafted him for, not to dabble here and there.

To that end, perhaps it’s also through Laval that Slafkovsky would have the best chance of building the confidence necessary to one day reach his true ceiling.

Players who are able to reach their ceiling all play without any fear of making mistakes, with unshakeable confidence.

In any case, he simply has to find his game again, and if he can’t do that in Martin St-Louis’ game in Montreal alongside Monahan or whatever, it’ll have to happen in Laval.

And when you think of the careers of Pacioretty, Rantanen, Draisaitl, Nichushkin, Pastrnak and company, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In short, Slaf doesn’t have to become THE best player of the 2022 auction, but if he’s ever going to be among the league’s powerhouses, the Habs can’t afford to miss out on the development of the powerful winger they selected first that year.