After qualifying for the playoffs last season, the Montreal Canadiens will face raised expectations this season, and they won’t be the only ones. It will also be the cast for former first-overall pick at the 2022 draft, Juraj Slafkovsky. While the power forward is still young in age at 21, he already has 200 NHL games under his belt, and with experience comes more expectations.
Furthermore, the power forward will be entering the first year of his eight-year deal, which comes with a $7.6M AAV, meaning the organisation will be hoping to see an increased contribution from the youngster. The timing is good considering Slafkovsky himself has made no secret of having raised expectations for himself, aiming to score between 65 and 70 points, which would be a massive improvement over his 51-point 2024-25 season.
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While I can understand the youngster’s desire to express his expectations in points, I’m not convinced that’s the only way he can improve. Examining how young players have progressed under Martin St-Louis’ tutelage, increased performance doesn’t necessarily translate to points immediately. When the coach started focusing on making Cole Caufield a more complete player, the sniper’s scoring rate took a hit (28 goals in the 2023-24 season), but it rebounded the following campaign (37 goals last season).
I’m not saying I expect a decrease in points production from the big Slovak, but I hope to see progress that doesn’t necessarily translate to points immediately. Slafkovsky has been saying he knows what to do to be more successful, which is to move his feet and play a heavier game consistently. Knowing what to do is only half the battle; now it’s time to put his money where his mouth is and actually do it on the ice from day one.
Last season, Josh Anderson and even rookie Emil Heineman showed him what he needed to do by being constant threats on the forecheck, flying through the offensive zone to make an impact with opposing defenders, and promptly dispossessing them. The 6-foot-3 and 225-pound forward has the right shape to play this way, and to quote Martin St-Louis, sometimes you have to do things that aren’t fun. Using your body in that way consistently hurts; there’s no two-ways about it, but it can eventually pay off.
At times, Slafkovsky has shown he understands the assignment, but for the Canadiens to eventually become a contender, it cannot just be at times; it needs to be constant. Now that he’s a year older, expect Martin St-Louis to be more demanding with the big Slovak as well. Gone are the days in which the bench boss didn’t really have a viable option to take over the left winger role if Slafkovsky faltered; now, the Canadiens also have Russian phenom Ivan Demidov, who is a bona fide top-six player, even though this will be his first professional season in North America.
If Slafkovsky doesn’t deliver, the coach can demote him and hold him more accountable. In an ideal world, however, he will demonstrate that he can meet expectations, and if he can, the Canadiens may finally have a genuine top six, with two properly offensive lines. His skill set complements those of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki perfectly, and seeing him deliver while riding shotgun with them would be perfect.
We saw it last season; he has much better odds of shining when playing on the top line than he does skating on the second line with Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach, for instance. When St-Louis had to use that unit last season, it was painfully evident that the line lacked speed. It was huge, but neither Laine nor Dach plays a very physical game, and it felt like wasted size. If there’s little doubt that Demidov could thrive on the first line, the same cannot be said of Slafkovsky and the second.
While the Slovak has said that he would be satisfied if he reaches between 65 and 70 points this season, I believe 60 points would be satisfying as long as he consistently executes his power forward role. It’s also worth noting that there should be a lot of competition for power-play ice time this season. Suzuki, Caufield, and Lane Hutson appear to be the obvious choices on the top power play unit, but after that? There could be plenty of competition between Slafkovsky, Demidov, Patrik Laine, and even newly acquired Zachary Bolduc, who scored 12 of his 36 points on the power play with the St. Louis Blues last season.
The table is set for Slafkovsky to have a breakthrough season, but it’s up to him to go out and do it before someone else steals his chair at the top table.
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