HF Habs: What Kind Of Impact Does Slafkovsky need to have for rebuild to be successful?

[Montreal Impact FC]

Slaf gets so underated in here its crazy we would think we drafted a goon... lol the guys has talent plenty of it and he is huge.. i think he can surely become a 60-70pts player.. with upside to over ppg if he master his unique size with his skills.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Missing on a 1st OA pick will certainly sting if that ends up being the case no matter what. You can't mess up top 5 picks if you want to be successful. So far the Habs haven't shown they are struggling way too much in the past 10 years with top 5 picks and that just should not be happening.

To be fair the 2012 draft was historically awful and the 2022 draft was a terrible draft to have a 1 OA pick in.

Both KK and Galchenyuk are currently 5th in each of their respective draft classes in scoring. Like I stated in an earlier post, If we had drafted 5th last year and 1st this year we would have Jiricek and Bedard and nobody would question our drafting especially with Hutson, Beck and Engstrom looking like great picks. If we pick 3rd in 2017 instead of 2018 maybe we have Petterson (if Timmins targets a center) instead of KK, although he may have picked Glass.....

Anyways......so much of scouting is just blind luck even with the best scouts in the world at the helm. Maybe in 2003 if Boston had our pick at 40 they also take Cory Urquhart and we take Patrice Bergeron at 45 with their pick. How many teams get saved from picking a bust by a team in front of them only to have to settle for a future star who was not their first pick. No teams are openly admitting this but it happens all the time and one group is made out to be savants while the others wear the goat horns.

I agree that if we don't come out of any of our four forays into the top 5 since 2012 without a bonafide star it will be an abject failure however there is some important context to be considered and much of that context is determined by luck.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Slaf gets so underated in here its crazy we would think we drafted a goon... lol the guys has talent plenty of it and he is huge.. i think he can surely become a 60-70pts player.. with upside to over ppg if he master his unique size with his skills.

It is way too early to write him off just as it is way too early to proclaim him to be a lock to score 60-70 points as a floor. The key to this kid is between his ears and nobody on this board has any insight into what is going on in there. We should all just relax and let it play out.

Honestly my biggest worry with Slaf is he takes a bad headshot and gets maimed. He needs to be way better on that front or he’s going to have a short career.

Those are some scary Eric/Brett Lindros vibes.

 

[CHwest]

It's the time of year when we have the most bored forum members.

Well we waved goodbye to the playoffs 9 months ago, have to have something to rehash. It's been along time since we had hope for a better future, Debbie Downers not with standing.

 

[Runner77]

Those are some scary Eric/Brett Lindros vibes.

Not to overlook his Balki vibes …

 

[KevSkillz4]

He is going to be more in Andrei Svechnikov range than Nathan Horton range type of player. I'm 100% confident on his talent, like Caufield, like Suzuki, like Guhle when they are considered prospects.

 

[First Line]

How about we judge the success of the rebuild on what the team accomplish and not individual players

 

[Habsrule]

People have to understand not to look to deeply into draft positions and more at how they rank in their draft class.

For example if Slafkovsky was in this past years draft he quite arguably be the fifth best forward behind Bedard, Carlsson, Fantilli and Smith.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

Not to overlook his Balki vibes …

Happy this caught on

 

[Montreal Impact FC]

It is way too early to write him off just as it is way too early to proclaim him to be a lock to score 60-70 points as a floor. The key to this kid is between his ears and nobody on this board has any insight into what is going on in there. We should all just relax and let it play out.



Those are some scary Eric/Brett Lindros vibes.

Not saying its his floor but i think its "likely" his floor is IMO 50pts.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Not saying its his floor but i think its "likely" his floor is IMO 50pts.

It is even way too early to make that assumption tbh.We will likely know a lot more after this season though,

 

[Archijerej]

I think when a team is competently managed, its success is rarely dependent on one draft selection, unless we are talking about a superstar level of player. 2022 was likely not that kind of draft though.

Slafkovsky's development into a big top 6 forward would be a great help, but it's not necessarily a killer if he doesn't. We have Suzuki signed for the next 7 years and Caulfield for 8. Dach is 22. There is time to build this roster up and survive one major setback.

It doesn't absolve the FO from criticism though. If you pick 1st OA, your duty is to get a good player.

 

[Archijerej]

As I stated in the OP, we'd be looking at a roster on the upswing starting this year so no more top 5-7 picks. The core would be about the same: Caufield, Suzuki, Dach, Slaf (Newhook?), Guhle, Reinbacher (Hutson?) Plus the rest of the prospect/young guys in the line-up. I don't have a crystall ball so no point going more into details or letting my imagination run wild.

It is quite an assumption that you can't add a core player by making a selection or trading a likely top 10 pick this season, possible top 10 pick next season and whatever ends up being the Calgary's pick.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

It is quite an assumption that you can't add a core player by making a selection or trading a likely top 10 pick this season, possible top 10 pick next season and whatever ends up being the Calgary's pick.

It is a less likely scenario IMO and data backs that up. Of course my definition of core player may be different than yours

 

[yianik]

Minimally production wise it's about 30 goals and about 60 points. But with that he would need a good 2 way game, and a fairly heavy game. So hitting, but using his size to wear down the other team, agressive forecheck. Power forward game. That kind of game makes him more valuable in the playoffs because it translates to the post season.

 

[cphabs]

Honestly my biggest worry with Slaf is he takes a bad headshot and gets maimed. He needs to be way better on that front or he’s going to have a short career.

I agree, but some opposition went well out of their way to hit him.

 

[cphabs]

Not to overlook his Balki vibes …

Filthy lmfao!

 

[cphabs]

It’s too bad we don’t have Perry anymore. He’d be perfect for Slaf to learn from imo.

 

[salbutera]

It’s too bad we don’t have Perry anymore. He’s be perfect for Slaf to learn from imo.

Not the same style of play whatsoever… Slaf will never play a chippy / brute force game. He’ll develop as a big bodied skill based player

 

[GrandBison]

Am I the only one who's reading the Horton comparison for the first time? I don't think the comparison is accurate. If Slaf become the best Armia we know (the one that shows up twice a year), he will be considered a good first overall that could make a difference in the playoffs. At that point, they have to build a complete dynamic team, it doesn't rely on Slaf shoulders.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Am I the only one who's reading the Horton comparison for the first time? I don't think the comparison is accurate. If Slaf become the best Armia we know (the one that shows up twice a year), he will be considered a good first overall that could make a difference in the playoffs. At that point, they have to build a complete dynamic team, it doesn't rely on Slaf shoulders.

It's not a common comparison because Horton has fallen into obscurity. What do you dislike about the comparison? Horton wasn't super physical but was involved in the game and won battles.

 

[Runner77]

It is even way too early to make that assumption tbh.We will likely know a lot more after this season though,

I’d be happy if he could first and foremost learn how to anticipate incoming hits and better protect himself.

If he can do that, there’s a great probability that he’ll play more than 39 games this season, which of course, can allow him to progress.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I agree, but some opposition went well out of their way to hit him.

That’s not going to change. If your head’s down, you’ll be a target.

 

[JohnTheBaptist]

It’s too bad we don’t have Perry anymore. He’d be perfect for Slaf to learn from imo.

Perry should have been given a long term contract, but Bergevin is too dumb to identify key veterans. Only signs the bad ones long term.

 

[KevSkillz4]

To me, Slafkovsky have skillest of a PPG player. Like Andrei Kostitsyn (basically same skillest). Talent of a PPG player aswell. The difference between Slaf and Kostitsyn, Slaf looks have so much better work ethic, better attitude, better at everything off ice. Be patient guys and girls, Slaf will be that type of player in 2 years.