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Canadiens’ Juraj Slafkovsky Sends Clear Message About Season Expectations

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Sep 23, 2025 9:30 AM ET

Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky entered training camp with a message of urgency from his coach, but it took him mere hours to come back with a direct response to the criticism that his seasons tend to start slowly, mostly throughout the month of October.

The 2022 No. 1 overall pick sent a strong message on Sunday, saying that he is intent on making this season different, with urgency from the outset.

“I want to be myself, I want to dominate this league, I want to dominate the games, I want to be able to pull the games our way,” Slafkovsky said, via The Athletic's Arpon Basu.

Simply put, Slafkovsky acknowledged that he needs to play Game 1 of the regular season as it was the series opener of a first-round playoff matchup.

Juraj Slafkovsky on how his new contract changed him :

"it changed my bank account thats about it" pic.twitter.com/VWNFLAIIeT
— ⁷²²⁰ (@Veehockey) September 19, 2025

“We focus here on starting the season like it would be the first playoff game,” Slafkovsky said. “That’s what we want to do, that’s how we want to play all 82 games.”

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis delivered a pointed message aimed at Slafkovsky at the start of camp, calling on the 21-year-old to show maturity and hunger right away.

“It starts now. Yesterday. It starts with the player,” St. Louis said. “You can’t hold everyone’s hand, and [Slafkovsky] is not 18 years old anymore, either. He’s older, he’s more mature, he has experience.

“How do you measure if someone’s hungry? I’m not talking about hungry for food, but hungry for success. For me, it’s urgency.”

Slafkovsky admitted that the early months of his past seasons have been inconsistent.

“Some things were missing in my game, but I think I figured out what I need to do,” Slafkovsky said. “Maybe I didn’t commit to doing all the things I needed to do the past two years, and I just started to do them halfway through the season.”

Slafkovsky, who is entering the first season of an eight-year, $60.8 million contract, has scored 111 points in 200 regular-season games. When asked how and if his new deal changed him at the start of camp, he joked, “It changed my bank account, that's about it.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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