The Montreal Canadiens have found an even better role for Juraj Slafkovsky than that of a complement to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
On Sunday night, the Montreal Canadiens lost in the shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins and had it not been for their youngest line, the Habs would have lost in regulation. In his post-game media availability, captain Nick Suzuki acknowledged that his line didn’t have a great outing. Not so long ago, if Suzuki and Cole Caufield weren’t on the scoreboard, the Habs didn’t stand a chance of winning.
Nowadays, though, if they have an off night, the Canadiens still have a chance because the line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Oliver Kapanen, and Ivan Demidov is incredibly efficient. Since they’ve been reunited, Slafkovsky doesn’t look like a player who believes he’s just there to complete the team’s top stars; he seems like a player who wants to carry his line.
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Even if losing Slafkovsky has hurt the top line, it has done a world of good not only for the big Slovak but also for his two rookie linemates. Everyone expected Demidov to be in the race for the Calder Trophy, and he is, but he has shone brighter since he started skating alongside the power forward. After 36 games, he has 28 points, the exact total in the same number of games as Anaheim Ducks’ rookie Beckett Sennecke.
As for Kapanen, I don’t believe anyone expected him to have 19 points in 36 games. Right now, he has 11 goals, tied with Sennecke for the lead amongst rookies in that department. It’s been a while since the Canadiens had two players in the top five of the rookie scoring race.
For the growth of those three players, I believe they should remain together. It’s not like Zachary Bolduc is so detrimental to the first line either; there are some good flashes there, and there will be more in time as well. If it doesn’t work well enough, though, once Kirby Dach returns, it may be worth giving him a shot on their wing. After all, the three played very well together in 2022-23, when he first joined, before he suffered a terrible injury.
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