Montreal Canadiens: ESPN Projects Huge Breakout Season For Juraj Slafkovsky

Montreal Canadiens is still over two weeks away but we are inching closer as the month of August is about to come to a close.

The 2022-23 season was not a great one in Montreal as the team finished with 68 points which put them 28th in the overall standings. This was actually an improvement over the previous season when the Canadiens finished last in 2021-22.

Finishing last has one benefit as it gives that team the best chance of landing the first overall pick. That is exactly what happened for the Canadiens and they selected first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. With that pick they took Juraj Slafkovsky, who made the team last season, but had his struggles in his initial NHL campaign.

Slafkovsky was injured midway through the season and played just 39 games, scoring four goals and ten points in the process. It wasn’t an extremely successful season, but he was just 18 and adjusting to life in North America for the first time.

Next season should be better for Slafkovsky as he has that rookie campaign out of the way and knows what to expect from living in Montreal and playing for the Canadiens. One outlet has projected a huge breakout for Slafkovsky in his second NHL season.

ESPN released its predictions and statistic projections for the 2023-24 season and had Slafkovsky ending the year with 22 goals and 55 points in 78 games played. That would be a huge improvement from his rookie season where he was on pace for just 20 points over a full season.

A 55 point campaign would be excellent growth fro Slafkovsky as a 19 year old and have him well on his way to becoming a dominant power forward for the Canadiens.

ESPN projected Cole Caufield would lead the team with 42 goals and 70 points and has Nick Suzuki projecting out to score 66 points in another full season.

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