Scout’s Analysis: How Juraj Slafkovsky is developing in his second NHL season

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Every team has a different blanket strategy for developing their prospects.

When I first started my NHL career with the Nashville Predators our GM, David Poile, preferred all of our prospects to spend time with our AHL affiliate in Milwaukee before playing in the NHL. There were a few exceptions along the way, mostly players coming from other pro leagues and the Predators’ first ever draft pick David Legwand come to mind, but the strategy generally stuck.

When I was working for Florida, it really depended on the state of our team. Our scenario was completely different. Some of our prospects were earning NHL jobs shortly after being drafted or signed due to the youth cycle our team was in as Dale Tallon implemented his plan to build the organization. Players like Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad, for example, found homes on our NHL roster immediately.

The one constant in both organizations was the impact our player development department had on the players. Martin Gelinas had his own style of communicating in Nashville, while Brian Skrudland had his own gregarious way of supporting our prospects in Florida. Eventually I had the pleasure of working with Bryan McCabe as well, who is still doing a fantastic job with the Panthers to this day.

The point is, every NHL organization is different. There isn’t one perfect model that exists in the league. We are, after all, dealing with prospects ranging in age and ability (not to mention maturity).

Which brings me to Montreal Canadiens and their still-developing prospect Juraj Slafkovsky. I’ve heard a lot of noise recently about how the Habs are handling his development. Some outsiders believe he would be best served with a stint, or a full season, in the AHL with their affiliate in Laval. Maybe those people are right.

Or maybe they are not seeing the forest for the trees.

There’s a lot more to the game than providing offence. I recognize Slafkovsky is being given ample opportunity to do that, skating in Montreal’s top six and being deployed on the power play. I also recognize he will need to turn the corner eventually and start to score more to keep his slot in the lineup.

But it’s also important to take a longer view of what has changed since he first stepped on an NHL ice surface, and if he’s making progress with his overall game.

With all of these things in mind, I’ve attempted to analyze the state of Slafkovsky’s game — the good and the bad — and come up with my own conclusions and potential strategy.

SIZE AND PHYSICALITY

There’s no doubt Slafkovsky is plenty strong enough to play in the NHL. It’s hard to believe he won’t turn 20 until the end of March, yet he’s listed at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds.

(Note: Slafkovsky, depending on a range of statistics, has weighed as much as 239 pounds — maybe more — since being drafted. He’s dropped weight in an attempt to prepare his body differently for the NHL game.)

Before going down with injury last season Slafkovsky played 39 games, where he averaged just over 12 minutes of ice time per game. He averaged 1.35 hits per game and 0.62 shot blocks. So far this season he’s averaged just shy of 15 minutes of ice time per game and has contributed 1.61 hits and 0.52 shot blocks.

I consider Slafkovsky a developing power forward. I’m looking for him to use his size and strength to shield defenders and drive more pucks on net. Last season he averaged 1.07 shots on goal per game. This season he is up, marginally, to 1.23 shots per game.

Considering his average time on ice has gone up almost three minutes per game, he isn’t generating many more chances offensively.

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SPATIAL AWARENESS ON OFFENCE

My biggest concern last season, by far, was how Slafkovsky was clearly having difficulty identifying time and space, with and without the puck on his stick.

Looking back on my notes from his first set of exhibition games in Buffalo last fall, one of my concerns was how Slafkovsky would track down his strong side and not recognize how quickly defencemen were gapping up on him to kill his zone entry. This carried on into the regular season as well.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about from last year. The end result of this clip is positive, but notice how Slafkovsky barely escapes getting blown up at the blue line on the zone entry:

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This season I’ve observed fewer of these scenarios. It’s a defenceman’s job to gap up and take the body and that part of the game will never change. In the games I’ve watched Slafkovsky this season he appears more prepared to absorb that contact. It sounds simple, but he’s keeping his head up more coming through the neutral zone.

The other part of spatial awareness is getting pucks to the net quickly when you have a play on your stick in a high danger scoring area. This area of his game is a work in progress.

Considering how big Slafkovsky is, he has less space to “take a step” before directing a puck on net. He’s too big and long to waste valuable time before ripping shots on net. Here’s an example of what I’m noticing:

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SKATING AND NET DRIVE

Slafkovsky skates at NHL pace, especially on straight lines, and should add more speed to his game as he further matures.

Recognizing the fan base wants to see more open ice power and drive to the net, here is a clip of his goal against the St. Louis Blues.

There’s a lot going on in this play and Slafkovsky reads it when it initially breaks down. When the puck does come to him, he chips it to a small area and executes two give-and-gos on his way to the net. I appreciate his read, patience, and the way he completed the process with a crease-front tuck.

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DEFENSIVE ZONE AWARENESS

If a player isn’t producing a high level of offence he needs to provide effort and detail in other areas of his game.

Thursday night’s game in Detroit provided a glimpse into some of the momentum Slafkovsky is gaining with his understanding of how to play the game “the right way” at the NHL level.

The first D-zone clip is as simple as it gets. People would be surprised how many players aren’t willing to fight through a check to block a shot in their zone. Slafkovsky takes one for the team here. He’s hobbled for a bit, but he did what he had to do. He fronted the shooter and prevented a shot on goal from range.

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Of course, not every shift in the defensive zone is going to result in immediately positive results. This next clip shows Slafkovsky having a difficult time moving the puck out of his zone and the turnover results in extended zone time for Detroit. He needs to make a better play early in the sequence.

The positive take, however, is how he reacted positionally following the turnover and recognized what his responsibility was in his zone. His job was to take away the middle seam between the face-off dots from side to side and it’s a sign of maturity that he recognizes this. There are many veteran players who would have chased the play and exposed the middle of the ice in the process.

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Something I have noticed, however, is Slafkovsky has a more difficult time identifying pressure and making outlets on his strong side. In this sequence, he had to look over his right shoulder to identify options. For some reason, he has a bit of a delay on that side of the ice, but he’s much more reliable when taking pucks on the weak side (his off-wing). The play is open and in front of him with his numbers facing the boards.

OFFENCE IN EUROPE vs THE NHL

Circling back to the fact Slafkovsky’s offensive numbers have been slow to arrive at the NHL level, it’s important to point out that he has always been a mid-range/streaky scorer. He scored in bunches playing in Finland’s Liiga and for the Slovakian national team at the Olympics and World Championships.

In his draft year he scored five goals and five assists for Turku (Liiga) in the regular season before contributing two goals and five assists in 18 playoff games.

When he suited up for the Slovakian national team he scored seven goals in seven games at the Beijing Olympics and three goals and six assists in eight games at the World Championships.

In my opinion, part of the reason he had more scoring success overseas is due to the larger ice surface and the fact he has more time and space to operate. The European game isn’t really physical and he had time to wait for plays to develop, compared to the track meet and small area quick strike game at the NHL level.

MARTIN ST. LOUIS

The Canadiens head coach has taken a unique approach with Slafkovsky and has a vision of what’s best for his development. He would have explained his process to upper management and the players. We can debate all we want about what we think is best for Slafkovsky’s development, but the reality is the coach has a plan that he’s sticking to so far.

Given the career St. Louis had, and the way he has handled himself so far as a first-time head coach in a hockey hot bed like Montreal, I’m going to defer to his expertise.

PERSONAL SCOUTING CONCLUSION

I’m like most fans. In time I think it’s a fair expectation to want more offence out of Slafkovsky, to where he’s at least providing consistent secondary scoring. But in the meantime I don’t see a player who is forgetting how to handle the puck or make plays. His three-zone awareness, and overall attention to detail, is evolving and moving in a positive direction, too.

There’s a lot of underlying positives playing out with Slafkovsky and we have to remember he’s still just 19 years old.

Development is going to take time.

With data from The Pro Hockey Group

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