Montreal Canadiens Start NHL Draft With a Surprise Taking Juraj Slafkovsky

The Montreal Canadiens entered the 2022 NHL Draft with the first overall pick for the first time since 1980. They won the NHL Draft Lottery and were awarded the right to select first overall after a tough 2021-22 season.

The team announced earlier this week that they had narrowed their list to three players, with those being forwards Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovky and Logan Cooley.

They were finally able to reveal their pick tonight and, somewhat surprisingly, it was Juraj Slafkovsky. The big Slovakian left winger shot up the draft rankings at the end of the season, evidently passing Shane Wright along the way.

Slafkovsky scored five goals and ten points in 31 games for TPS Turku in Liiga. He climbed the draft rankings with strong performances at the Olympics and World Championships and ultimately did enough to get to the top of the Canadiens draft board.

Slafkovsky scored seven goals in seven games for Slovakia at the Olympics in February, winning a bronze medal and an Olympic MVP along the way. Of course, NHL players were not participating in the Olympics this season, but it was against mostly players playing pro in Europe.

He was great again at the World Championships, scoring three goals and nine points in eight games. He clearly was capable of bringing his game to the next level in big tournaments and competitions and the Canadiens are rolling the dice that he will be able to do that under the bright lights in Montreal.

All along it sounded like Shane Wright was going to go first overall, but the Canadiens obviously liked Slafkovsky’s package of size, skill and physicality. He is perfectly cut out to be playing on a top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield for a very, very long time.

The Canadiens still own the 26th overall pick and 12 other picks following the first round of the NHL Draft.

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