A Winning Habit
Fansided

Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Underperforming So Far This Season

By Ken MacMillan

Oct 28, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson (17) plays the puck against the Winnipeg Jets during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 28, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson (17) plays the puck against the Winnipeg Jets during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
Sep 25, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 25, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

Juraj Slafkovsky

Juraj Slafkovsky was drafted first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, and didn’t exactly dominate in his first NHL season. He had some ups and downs in that rookie season, but overall he looked a little lost on the ice and kept getting run over by opponents without ever seeing them coming.

He finished the season with four goals and ten points in 39 games before being injured for the second half of the season.

With a taste of NHL action, and an offseason to recuperate and prepare for the rigours of the toughest league in the world, it was expected Slafkovsky would be better this season. I don’t know that anyone expected him to really break out and score at a point per game pace, but he was expected to look a lot more comfortable than he did last season. And surely he could score a bit more than once every eight games, right?

Well, no. Slafkovsky had a strong training camp, which led to the heightened expectations, and set up Alex Newhook for a nice goal on opening night of the season. After that, he had zero points in nine consecutive games. There were calls coming from everywhere to send him down the AHL’s Laval Rocket as he was struggling to get any results.

Slafkovsky instead was moved up to the top line and scored on Saturday night against the Blues. However, he still has just one goal and two points in 11 games, which means there are seven goalies with as many assists as him. That’s not ideal and I think more was expected from him this season.

Home/Editorials