Juraj Slafkovský

Last Season

Thirty goals and 73 points in all 82 games, plus-nine, fifteen of the goals on the power play, on eighteen and a half minutes a night. He played 53 percent of his five-on-five time with Suzuki.

The Finesse Game

The hands are much better than a 6-3, 225-pound winger is supposed to have. He protects the puck below the goal line with his back to pressure and finds the middle from there — a good deal of his offence is created by simply refusing to be taken off the puck long enough for someone to get open.

The shot has become a real weapon, particularly on the power play, where fifteen of his thirty goals came. He releases it quicker than he used to and from further out.

The skating remains the limitation. He is not slow but he does not separate, and against a defenceman with a good gap he does not beat anyone wide.

The Physical Game

Six-three and 225, and he has learned to use it. He forechecks hard, wins wall battles by leverage, and goes to the net front without being asked. That was the missing piece for two seasons and it is now the foundation.

The Intangibles

The first pick in 2022, in a market that does not forget the number, and he had two years of being told he was a mistake. Nothing about how he plays suggests any of it landed.

At twenty-two he is a thirty-goal power winger on a line with a hundred-point centre. The realistic ceiling is considerably higher, and the thing that decides it is foot speed.