Juraj Slafkovsky Setting His Goals for Upcoming Season

However, like Martineau mentioned on Wednesday night’s episode of the Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro, if Slafkovsky falls a couple of points below his offensive expectations for himself, it can still be a success for the big winger. Slafkovsky’s game revolves around him being a nuisance for his opponents in the corners and around the net. If you think about it, a good screen on a Cole Caufield goal where he doesn’t get an assist is worth just as much as a secondary assist, given that his work in fr ont of the net will have contributed to the goal in some way. 

It seems that Slafkovsky also wants to improve in that aspect as well. He told Martineau, he wants to work on being better in the corners and in front of the net, helping his linemates Nick Suzuki and Caufield get more scoring chances. Given that this line was already a top 10 line in the entire NHL last year, a better version of Slafkovsky will get them up to possibly a top 5 or even top 3 line in the entire league. He already makes that line more effective with his forechecking game.

One of the best quote from Slafkovsky’s interview with Martineau has to be that “he wants to be a driver for this team,” meaning he wants to be the guy who drives the play on the ice and helps his linemates play even better. Although with a guy like Suzuki, who is already an elite play driver, Slafkovsky’s role doesn’t need to be that guy, but rather the perfect complement to both his linemates. 

At the same time, we could say his way of driving the line is being that physical power forward who makes more room for Suzuki and Caufield.

Now that’s not to say Slafkovsky can’t be a puck carrier, but he should never be the main playmaker on his line. Nonetheless, the fact that he has the mindset that he wants to be the man on this team means we may be getting a new and improved Slafkovsky to start the season.

He understands that he needs to find more consistency in his game, and he explained to Martineau that the most important thing for next season is just that. 

Slafkovsky seems like he’s prepared better than in previous years, as his training this summer comes from a lot of video that Habs Development Coach Adam Nicholas has sent him. This is something he believes will help him get into the right mindset to start the season, also he enjoys looking at video to help his game. As long as he starts off similar to the player he ended his last season as, he should live up to his expectations.

Do you think Slafkovsky can have a good start to the year?