Where Juraj Slafkovsky’s troubles begin

Monday night, after the 5-4 overtime victory against the Vancouver Canucks, Juraj Slafkovsky gave a modest assessment of the game he had just played in which he collected an assist in 17:38 of play .

In the last two games, I hadn’t done anything on the ice, and tonight, I passed the puck a little morepointed out Slafkovsky, whom head coach Martin St-Louis had benched for the last 12 minutes of the third period, as well as overtime, two evenings earlier in Colorado.

Well, I continued not to shoot and I still lost several battles, but it was better than in the two previous matches, he added. I had to win one or two more battles. I persist through the ups and downs.

We agree, these are not the words of a man who radiates confidence, and his reluctance to throw is often the sign of a player who is not in full possession of his means.

Slafkovsky draws less often this year, sometimes letting good opportunities slip away. His 4.48 shot attempts per 60 minutes are his lowest volume in three seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Additionally, so far this season, 37% of his shot attempts are missing the net, which is much higher than last year (23.6%) and his rookie season (20.7%).

But dwelling too much on his throws would allow the tree to hide the forest.

Where Slafkovsky perhaps struggles the most is in his choice of play entering the zone. We saw him be the victim of several turnovers at the opposing blue line when he tried to force a play that did not have a great chance of success.

As the season progresses, Slafkovsky seems more and more concerned not to repeat this type of error, which however has the effect of slowing down his movements when entering the zone.

[Martin St-Louis] “talks a lot about knowing what to do with the puck before you get it,” Slafkovsky explained Thursday. So you have to concentrate on that: scan your eyes before receiving the puck and try to get something out of it, even if it’s a rejection deep in the territory or a more skillful play or something like that.

And then, obviously, you have to count the sweaters: how many guys they have back, how many guys are probably in retreat, how many of us are supporting the attack. No one wants to try a finesse game that can turn into a 3v1 the other way. This is probably not the right decision.

In the NHLthese analyzes must be done in a fraction of a second, otherwise an opponent will steal the puck or at least abort the attack.

When I played in Europe, I had more time, I didn’t have to place the puck all the time. The guys were far away from you. It’s different…

It’s understandable for Slafkovsky to talk about these simpler times, but even last year, time and space weren’t as much of a problem for him. His decision-making was sharp and led to the right play most of the time.

Slafkovsky is therefore not pursuing chimeras, or something he lost when he arrived from Europe. He has relatively recent evidence of success that he can build on.

An order that bore fruit

Sending pucks deep into the opposing zone became an essential part of St. Louis’ message to its players, especially starting in early November, when it decided to tackle the epidemic of turnovers the Canadiens were guilty of.

I ask my players to play game who is in front of them, reiterated the head coach. When you don’t have a play on the blue line, when you don’t win trying to make a play cute at the blue line, if there’s nothing on the other side of that, why take the risk?

I find that we have made a great improvement with this idea that when there is nothing for us, we must trust in forward failure. And this is a part of the game where Slafkovsky can be excellent because he has speed, and that speed can help him use his weight.

Collectively, the players responded to St-Louis’ call, which had the effect of gradually reducing the number of turnovers and otherwise gaining time of possession in the opposing zone.

We see night after night how much this style of hockey suits Josh Anderson, for example. Watch him use his speed to consistently be first to the puck deep in the crease.

But throwing the disc into the back of the zone is not Slafkovsky’s cup of tea. He doesn’t hide it: he hates it.

If he could use his hands to unleash his creativity and consistently make plays at the entry zone, that would be bliss. And St-Louis is aware of this, he often repeats it: there is nothing pleasant about discharges at the bottom of the territory.

There’s nothing fun about it, but it has a lot of value, St-Louis insisted. I want us to play in space [libre]. If they give us the blue line, we won’t send the puck to the back of the zone. But the games are close, the teams don’t give you a lot of space, so sometimes you have to send the puck behind them to win it back.

Slafkovsky knows very well that he must adhere to this mentality, especially since he has the attributes to turn this strategy to his advantage.

I have to find a way to like this because I can go get the disk too. When I get rid of the puck, I have everything I need to get it back.

It shouldn’t really change who I am, it should just be part of my game. I should be able to know when to shoot the puck and when to make an elite play. We shouldn’t even have to talk about it – it should be normal, it seems to me – but it’s obviously something that needs to be talked about right now because things aren’t happening the way I want.

Punish without brutalizing yourself

Many observers look at Slafkovsky’s impressive size and say to themselves that with such a build, he should especially focus on finishing his checks and asserting his physical superiority.

But Slafkovsky is no Tom Wilson, that intimidating forward Capitals of Washington that the Canadian will face on Friday. Nor should he try to dumb down his game simply because he is imposing.

Slafkovsky has become a universal first-round draft pick precisely because he has a rare combination of finesse and power. According to St-Louis, this should not lead to an identity crisis for his 20-year-old winger, quite the contrary. It’s just a matter of him using all the assets at his disposal.

Right now, however, Slafkovsky needs to better identify when his finesse should be used, and use his power more on the forecheck.

This process does not happen smoothly.

I don’t think that [ma taille] have to change the way I play, he said. I think even a game maker like Suzy [Nick Suzuki] Hates sending the puck deep sometimes, but he probably doesn’t think about it too much, unlike me. Maybe I’m thinking about it too much. If I place the puck twice, maybe by the third time, even if I really have to send it to the back of the territory, I’m going to try to make a play. So it’s a learning process.

Patience and work, advocates Kent Hughes

During his mid-season review on Wednesday, the general manager Kent Hughes indicated that he believed Slafkovsky could do more and that the principal concerned was fully aware.

Are we surprised? No. I said it when we signed his contract this summer, we expect that there will be ups and downs and that his progression will not be linearmentioned Hughes.

The DG argued in the same breath that other Canadian players had more difficult seasons before finding their way again. The case ofAnderson is the most obvious.

This is the life of a professional athlete, added Hughes. Those who are able to maintain the same consistency from one year to the next are very special players. I have plenty of confidence in Juraj, but he has work to do. It’s up to him to keep his head down and work.

Slafkovsky is too talented not to find the solutions and recover the speed of execution that he displays when he is full of confidence.

Let’s just hope that we don’t have to wait until the following season as was the case with Anderson.