Heightened Expectations for Juraj Slafkovsky in 2025-26

It’s well documented that Slafkovsky struggled a lot during the first half of the last two seasons before finally finding his game in the second half. If anyone is critical of his play over the first half of those past seasons, it’s Slafkovsky himself.   

Despite beating his previous career-high in points last season, Slafkovsky felt he had a disappointing season as the first two months of the season, he failed to find any consistency. Rather than talk about how the point totals are showing slight progression, Slafkovsky mentioned that he needs to be better next season. The fact that he’s so critical of himself shows he’s learning how to develop into a more complete power forward.   

The main reason a breakout season could happen is that following the Four Nations break, it seemed like he had a meeting with Habs development coach, Adam Nicholas, that got him to understand what his role was. Nicholas told Slafkovsky that he should watch how Brady Tkachuk plays and try playing a similar game to that. While it’s not a natural thing for him to do it consistently, he seemed like he took it to heart and tried to become a similar player to Tkachuk in his own way. Slafkovsky even finished the season with the most hits on the team.   Slafkovsky is entering the first year of his massive new 8-year contract, which will pay him an average of $7.6 million per season. It may seem like a lot for a player that has never scored over 51 points, but as a 21-year-old, he is expected to grow into the contract over the next few seasons. Now is the time for the young Slovak to show just what he’s worth by starting the season the way he finishes it. Using his new mentality on how to play can help Slafkovsky become one of the league’s top power forwards. 

In his first taste of playoff experience, Slafkovsky proved to be among the team’s top players. He scored a few big goals and threw big hits against the Capitals. “Playoff Slaf” looks like he will only get better with each passing year that the Canadiens see playoff experience. This shouldn’t be surprising as all power forwards seem to be able to improve their game come playoff time when the game gets more physical.   

Another thing Slafkovsky needs to start doing is trusting his heavy shot to get the job done off the rush. It’s ok that he’s a pass-first player, but as a power forward, he needs to see that his shot should always be a big part of his game as he drives the net.    

If I were to say what I expect for Slafkovsky this upcoming regular season, I would be looking for him to put up 25+ goals and 60+ points along with 200+ hits as he continues to play the big power forward game that is needed alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield to help this line stay atop the league as one of the best lines in all of hockey.     What are your expectations for Slafkovsky next season?