Where are guys getting they've lost faith in Slafkovsky? Hughes 1st thing he said about Slaf when he drafted him, was we didn't expect him to be the best player right away but rather 5 years from now. Furthermore the guy I was responding to, suggests that they've
lost faith in Slaf's ability to be an impact player, which is silly, because, it again, was one of the deciding factors in drafting him in the first place. Watching him in the olympics and world championships clearly shows the type of "impact" he's capable of.
The reason Hughes doesn't bring up Slafkovsky in regards to being one of the offensive players that hab fans should immediately rely on, is because he himself, doesn't want Slafkovsky to be focusing in on that. It is part in parcel why they kept him up in the NHL in the first place.
Why did Canadiens' Slafkovsky stay in NHL? Kent Hughes gave some insight.
"He started by stating that development decisions are made case by case, specific to personalities and abilities, and that there’s no universal way to develop a player. It was a point he reiterated towards the end of his availibility, saying “development comes in many colours.”
Specific to the shades they’ve chosen for Slafkovsky, Hughes ventured into a deep-winded analogy of what it takes to undo certain habits in order to build new ones in a hockey environment, explaining that was the critical first step the Canadiens knew they’d have to embark on with the young Slovak, whose main challenge would be adapting to the North American game after exclusively playing the European one before arriving in Montreal."
Hughes said they’re working with Slafkovsky “to help him understand how he can be most successful in North America,” and explained that it was a
step-by-step process to alter his muscle memory. He said that, over this first step
, there’s been zero emphasis placed on the player’s production as a measure of his success."
“When we speak of Slaf, he needs to learn how to define his game,” Hughes said.
“He has natural talent, and everyone sees it. He’s physically special, too. He’s so strong. For him, there are certain aspects of the game he needs to understand and add so he can become the best player possible.”
The other reasons Hughes kept Slafkovsky in Montreal were that he wanted to keep close tabs on him and wanted coach Martin St. Louis and director of development Adam Nicholas to oversee this critical stage of his development versus sending him to the AHL,
where the emphasis would be more on scoring.
Hughes is continuously down playing emphasis on offensive production with Slafkovsky for
developmental reasons, they know he's a project and patience is the key. It's bad enough they've lost important development time due to him only being able to play 39 games last year because of his injury.
This however in
NO WAY suggest they've lost faith in their choice, or don't feel he'll have an offensive impact on this team or otherwise in the future.
The only thing
annoying as you put it, is that this even has to be explained.
