What has allowed Juraj Slafkovsky to elevate his game?

While every team would love their first-overall pick to be a teenaged phenom like the San Jose Sharks‘ Macklin Celebrini, most players require a little bit of time and patience before they meet the expectations of their draft status. As an example, look no further that Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who now in his fourth NHL season is on pace for nearly 70 points.

Selected first overall by Montreal in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Slafkovsky quickly established himself as a solid, top-six winger, putting up 50 points in his second season and 51 in his third. Any team would be happy to have a player that can provide that type of production, but for a first-overall pick, he was underwhelming. His uptick in production this season, however, along with his star turn playing for Slovakia at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, has changed the narrative around him. At still just 21 years old, there’s no reason to think Slafkovsky can’t continue to develop from here.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, former NHLer Max Lapierre of Hockey with an Accent joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Steve Peters to discuss how Slafkovsky has elevated his game this season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: What have you seen in his game that’s allowed him to take this step?

Max Lapierre: First of all, he’s been moving his feet way better lately. It started at midseason last year, and when he moves his feet with his size, it’s pretty tough to stop this big boy going to the net. He protects the puck so well. Every time he goes in the corner, most of the time he gets out with the puck. Getting out with the puck is one thing, getting out with an opportunity to create offensively is another thing. He’s so agile, and with his vision, he’s a great player. I might be pushing it a little bit, but I played against Marian Hossa, and I know he’s another level, but he was the role model for Slafkovsky when he was young. This is who he wanted to become in the NHL, if one day he was going to be achieving his goal. I feel like parts of his game looks like Marian Hossa’s game. He’s good defensively, he’s heavy, he backchecks, lifts the stick, his backtracking is unreal, good on the forecheck. Maybe not a 100 point a season guy. I don’t think Marian had often 100 points, if even he got 100 points. He’s just reliable defensively and offensively.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…