Canadian: work, wisdom and the ram

SALT LAKE CITY – Impulsive, brash, determined. At the end of an exhaustive search, this is the most recurring and summary description found on the web, this vast thing, the ram.

Not the animal, rather the astrological sign. The French magazine Elle even states that people born under this sign are more comfortable in action than in dialogue. To this definition, Juraj Slafkovsky, himself an Aries and obviously astrology enthusiast, added his two cents.

I was born on March 30, I am an Aries. And we are very stubborndropped the Slovak on Monday after the Canadian’s training in bucolic Salt Lake City.

Stubborn, then. If the conversation deviated to our great astonishment into these muddy waters, it is because the 20-year-old young man tried to explain as clearly as possible the mantra that governs his life. Basically: work and intransigence. Slafkovsky, it is now known, is hard on himself to the point where public self-flagellation sessions are taking place monthly this season.

After the long holiday trip, the forward did it again, then exhaled a slight sigh of relief in front of the cameras after the game against the Vancouver Canucks. He admits that it’s a little better since three games, but not even close to this [qu’il] wants it to be.

His 23 points in 39 games are far from catastrophic – it is in fact an almost identical pace to that of last year when he collected 50 points in 82 games – but his level of play, his confidence and the quality of its decisions are all declining.

Brother Marc Antoine Godin recently dissected with accuracy and intelligence the origin of the boy’s problems, namely his propensity for turnovers at the opposing blue line as a corollary of his reluctance to send pucks deep into the opponent’s territory. Beyond an insufficient number of shots, turnovers or questionable decisions, the fact remains that the biggest problem for this gentle giant seems to be the excessive pressure he puts on his shoulders.

He’s too hard on himselfcorroborated Nick Suzuki.

Maybe, but I don’t know how to do otherwisethe poor guy replied to -.

By examining most categories of advanced statistics, we see that Slafkovsky often pales this season. The eye test is no more reassuring. And his differential of -10 is one of the worst on the team, just ahead of the abysmal ones of Alex Newhook (-15) and Kirby Dach (-25).

So don’t ask him to show leniency.

It doesn’t work like that. I have to be tough. If it doesn’t work, I have to be even harder. The solution? It’s always about being harderhe repeated after CH training.

As a youngster, the Slovak could smash his stick on the way to the bench because he had missed a pass. Two or three work tools could go through it in one evening, much to the chagrin of his father. Today, the sticks no longer cost him anything, but his temperament has not changed. Sometimes it is barely measured.

Matheson’s Wisdom

Enter Mike Matheson.

At 30 years old, 587 games of experience and almost ten years spent in the National League, the Canadian defender has seen snow. He himself, by his own admission, is not an expert in putting his miseries on the ice into perspective, even today. However, this is nothing comparable to what he imposed on himself in his first seasons in the NHL.

It was incrediblehe confirmed.

Staring at the ceiling while going to bed at night thinking about a mistake, causing insomnia, all this was not uncommon for Pointe-Clarais.

Matheson, even though he is not an Aries, understands very well what Slafkovsky is going through and has already spoken to him about it. Fatherhood has changed him and, today, he knows how to put things into perspective.

When I come home, the kids need to have me 100%, the best dad I can be. They don’t care what I did at the arena. This part of my life takes up a lot of space. I’ll continue to give 100%, but it helps to leave what happened at the arena at the arenaexplained the defender.

Then he continued in a modern version of there’s not just hockey in life by Stéphane Richer.

Maybe it’s not what the fans want to hear, but there are definitely things that happen in life that are much bigger than hockey. We are so lucky to play a sport every day. We make ridiculous amounts of money doing this.

You see the fires in California. You see people on the street who don’t have a home. All of this is so much more than a sport. To have this mentality of understanding that it’s not the end of life, it helps you to be less hard on yourself. It’s not an excuse, it’s not for not giving your 100%, but to remove a little pressure and emotion sometimes.he said.

For Slafkovsky, however, this beautiful wisdom, this healthy perspective, has not yet touched him.

No matter what [mes coéquipiers] tell me, in my head it doesn’t change anythinghe assured.

It’s up to him to find his refuge. Astrology, who knows?

Work is health

At the heart of his best streak since Methuselah – 3rd in the NHL since the 9-2 thaw against the Penguins on December 12 thanks to a 9-3-1 record – the Canadian does not give the impression of lifting the foot.

Today’s practice was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. local time, but most of the players hit the ice before 10:45 a.m. An hour and a half later, they were trickling out.

Martin St-Louis has seen his players acquire a good dose of maturity in recent weeks and he treats them as such. When Suzuki made the wrong decision during a defensive play Monday morning, the coach whistled to stop the exercise and did not go out of his way to make his captain understand that he had just made a mistake . As CH progresses, St-Louis raises the bar.

In the last two years, there were times when we won two games in a row and there was a little slackening. We were like, okay, finally, and it showed in the third game. We weren’t completely prepared. Maybe it was mental, maybe physical, I don’t know. I find that this year, we are hungry for moreMatheson estimated.

The guard added that it was time to redouble our efforts so that the good reflexes developed over a month or two become automatic. And the team can add a layer later.

Not too much time to appreciate the view offered by this city set with pretty mountains.

A new helmet

Speaking of pretty things, Samuel Montembeault took the time to describe in detail the design of his brand new helmet.

A tribute to Patrick Roy here, another to Jacques Plante there, the Quebec goalkeeper seemed particularly proud of his new toy made by the artist Jordon Bourgeault, also creator of the famous Terminator mask by Carey Price.

Faced with the gleam of the object, we almost forgot to mention that Alex Newhook did not participate in training, he who is suffering from the flu, according to the Canadian.