REPORT: Juraj Slafkovsky has disappointed Habs GM at camp - Possibly get sent to minors?

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Ryan
September 30, 2022 (5:51 PM)

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It's been a few months now since the Montreal Canadiens shocked the hockey world when they selected Juraj Slafkovsky first overall, passing on the two-way center from Kingston, Shane Wright who was the projected first overall pick for over 2 years.

Slafkovsky is a big bodied winger who likes to score, and the team saw him as a perfect compliment for his other young stars like Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

Since training camp started, Slafkovsky has shown some promise during his team scrimmages, but according to the Montreal Canadiens General Manager, during pre-season games, he has been ''underwhelming''.

Man Slafkovsky is difficult to separate from the puck. pic.twitter.com/Whj0KBa84H� Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) September 23, 2022

I thought his two exhibition games were a little underwhelming for him, but the two rookie games in Buffalo, he was great. The two scrimmages here with our team, I think he led all our players in scoring chances by a pretty decent margin. So he's been very good in parts, there's obviously some inconsistency on how that translates into exhibition games.

When a player gets selected first overall, he has a lot of pressure put on him to preform, but the team also gets a lot of pressure put on them for making sure that they selected a player that can live up to the hype. If a team selects someone first overall, the thought is that they are a player that can step in immediately and make a difference, but according to the Habs GM, Slafkovsky may not be on the opening night roster, if sending him to the minors is what is best for him, they will do that.

Slafkovsky with quite the effort to create something coming out of the box here. pic.twitter.com/W4LeYRHqpF� Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) September 27, 2022

If we do what we said when we drafted him - we weren't looking for the best 18-year-old, we were looking for the best NHL player down the road - and I don't think we do that without making the best decision for him. Whether it's the popular decision or not, we're going to do what we believe is right.

Habs GM: Slafkovsky's preseason play has been 'a little underwhelming' https://t.co/o7OHQ77e89 pic.twitter.com/LFwUmxN9D6� theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) September 30, 2022