Can the Canadiens send Juraj Slofkovsky to AHL?
The Montreal Canadiens have fallen to Earth after a remarkable start to the 2022/23 NHL season.
The Canadiens have a record of 11-10-1 in the first half of the campaign. They are now a mere 4-11-2 since Dec. 1 and 1-8-1 in the last 10. They’ve let 46 goals in that time and scored only one goal.
Many — if not everyone — expected this team to be amongst the worst in the league this season, and it seems the Habs are finally living Down to expectations.
One of the few bright spots has been Nick Suzuki’s top line, Cole Caufield, and Kirby Dach, who have combined for 86 points. Sean Monahan, an offseason acquisition, has been solid with 17 points in 25 matches (although he’s currently hurt), and Kaiden Guhle, a rookie defenseman has seemed comfortable playing long minutes on a battered blueline.
The rest of the squad, however, has had unremarkable or poor seasons. I predicted Montreal would be too talented I believed that finishing last in the NHL would give me the best chances of winning the draft lottery. However, the Habs were unable to overcome a poor roster and numerous injuries. joined the tanking efforts underway To win the right to draft elite prospect Connor Bedard.
The way forward looks pretty straightforward. This includes buying valuable trade deadline assets and stocking-up on prospects and picks along the route. The general manager Kent Hughes, along with the front office, are gauging the trade value players Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson and Josh Monahan. However, there is another option: Should they send 2022 first-overall Pick Juraj Slafkovsky over to the AHL.
Slafkovsky had a quiet start in his NHL career. He scored four goals and 10 point, earned 31 penalty minutes, and had a minus-6 rating through 33 games. Slafkovsky is not making much impact due to his usage, rather than his efforts.
Slafkovsky saw 13 line combinations this season and settled more often on the wing with Jake Evans and Michael Pezzetta. The 6-foot-3, 238-pound forward is averaging about 12 minutes of ice time per game — not enough to give him the reps he needs to develop at the highest level of the sport.
Martin St.Louis may not trust him enough or feel that more experienced players will give him a better chance of winning. True enough. But in a lost year — as this one is shaping out to be — the main focus should be the development of your future core.
Slafkovsky will undoubtedly be a Canadien for some time to come. But, it’s likely that he’d be most comfortable with a stint at the AHL Laval Rocket, where he’d be given a massive boost in minutes.
Shane Wright is a 2022 lottery pick. He was assigned to minors after a slow start in his first NHL season. Wright scored four goals in five games while playing for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. After being recalled to Seattle Kraken, Wright became captain of Canada’s gold medal effort at the 2023 World Juniors. Slafkovsky could be expected to play in more than four AHL matches, but he could benefit from some more prominence and production.
This decision will be made by the Canadiens very quickly, as they are just two games shy of the 40-game mark. Slafkovsky would receive a year of unrestricted agency.
Per Puck Pedia, an UFA in Group 3 “becomes a Unrestricted free agent (UFA), if their current contract expires after 7 Accrued seasons or they turn 27 years old by June 30, or both. An Accrued Year is one in which a NHL player is on the roster for at least 40 (for Goalies, it is 30). If a player is on the NHL team’s roster but injured, the team’s games count towards the 40-game minimum.”)
Why keep the team’s prized prospect — and lose a year of control in the process — riding the bench when he could be thriving at a level just below the NHL as this group tumbles towards another lottery pick? The solution is clear.
Other young, promising Habs players can also benefit from this. Justin Barron and Jordan Harris could benefit from some time in the minors to develop their defensive skills. Arber Xhekaj, a standout in the early season, would benefit from some time with Rocket. However his transition to the big league was easier than that of his peers.
This season has seen the Habs’ defensive corps suffer a beating, which has forced some inexperienced players to take on bigger roles than they expected. Joel Edmundson, Mike Matheson, and David Savard have all been sidelined by injury this season, while Kaiden Guhle, a promising rookie, was forced to miss at least eight weeks due to a lower-body injury. Harris, Barron, and Xhekaj are likely to be called upon to fill the void Matheson, Guhle have left, which could delay a possible assignment with the AHL.
Connor Bedard just carried Canada to world junior gold With a historic tournament, it looks like the next NHL star. If you are not in a position to compete for a playoff spot, it is time to give up and focus on the future.
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