One of the big reasons why the Canadiens decided to select Juraj Slafkovsky with the No. 1 overall pick at the 2022 NHL Draft is that they believed he had the ability to handle the pressure of playing in Montreal’s very bright spotlight.
Slafkovsky was already mature beyond his years when the Canadiens drafted him as an 18-year-old. He had left his family home in Slovakia at 14 in order to play for the HC Koske U16 team. By the time the Canadiens drafted him, Slafkovsky had also become one of the biggest sports celebrities in his home country after scoring seven goals in seven games at the 2022 Beijing Olympics to help Slovakia win its first-ever medal in hockey, a bronze. Slafkovsky was named the Olympic tournament’s MVP.
Slafkovsky’s first three seasons with the Canadiens have been full of ups and downs, which isn’t shocking for such a young player.
This season hasn’t gone well for the 20-year-old winger, with only two goals and 13 assists after 27 games. More was expected after Slafkovsky finished last season with 20-30-50 totals. His performance over the last half of last season — posting 16-19-35 totals over 41 games — convinced GM Kent Hughes to lock Slafkovsky up long-term, signing him in July to an eight-year, US$60.8-million contract that kicks in next season with an annual salary-cap hit of US$7.6 million.
Throughout the ups and downs so far, Slafkovsky has continued to show his maturity and ability to handle the spotlight. His personality never really changes.
“We play a serious game in a serious league,” head coach Martin St. Louis said after practice Monday in Brossard. “But I don’t think Slaf takes himself so seriously. He’ll laugh at himself sometimes. I think that’s part of it that I like about Slaf. He knows he’s young and he’s got stuff to learn. He doesn’t think he’s got all the answers and he’s not just going to blame everything around him if it’s not working. It’s a good quality.”
Especially in Montreal.
Slafkovsky tries not to pay attention to what is said or written about him in the media.
“What you guys say … I couldn’t really care less,” he said. “I focus on myself. … I mean, obviously, some things sometimes get to me, but I only laugh because we win one game you guys write good stuff, we lose another game then it’s everything is bad. So it’s kind of funny.”
Slafkovsky added that the media spotlight on him in Slovakia is even brighter.
“In Slovakia it’s a big thing when they translate everything from English to Slovak,” he said. “So that’s how I get it. People tag me on things and stuff, so that’s how I see it. But I only laugh because I have two good games, everything is perfect. I have two bad games, everything is bad.”
There have been more bad games than good games for Slafkovsky this season. One of his problems is that he’s not shooting the puck enough. He has only 34 shots in 27 games — an average of 1.25 per game. Over the final 41 games last season, he had 97 shots — an average of 2.37 per game.
Slafkovsky started this season like he finished last season on the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Slafkovsky had 1-5-6 totals in the first six games before suffering an upper-body injury. He missed three games and after returning didn’t start another game on the No. 1 line until Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg.
St. Louis said that while Slafkovsky was racking up points early in the season he wasn’t playing good hockey, noting he needs to play with more pace and physicality and gain consistency.
“Production isn’t the whole story,” St. Louis said. “It’s a part of the story.”
Slafkovsky will be back with Suzuki and Caufield when the Canadiens play the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS). Slafkovsky is obviously happy about that and realizes he needs to get himself into better shooting positions. He isn’t concerned about having only two goals.
“I’m working every day,” he said. “I don’t really care about how many goals I have. We’re working on team wins. I don’t really care about the stats as much.”
He’s also not worried about the pressure of a big contract kicking in next season.
“You guys make that up that pressure about my contract and stuff with the stuff you say online,” he said. “It starts there. In here, we don’t really care who makes how much money. It’s all about how the team plays and what is the result at the end of the game. You guys point something out … he signed a contract and he’s not scoring goals or whatever. It’s just funny … but it’s fine.”
St. Louis isn’t putting a lot of pressure on Slafkovsky at this point.
“I care about the future Slaf more than today’s Slaf,” the coach said. “He understands that.”
The Canadiens obviously need more out of Slafkovsky moving forward. But at this point he remains a work in progress.