NHL Legend Sees Younger Self In Juraj Slafkovsky

What Jagr specifically saw in Slafkovsky is that he is a big body and that he’s great along the boards, which was something that the Czech forward was incredible at during his NHL career. He mentioned that he is typically drawn to big-bodied players who are great along the boards, as it is very similar to his game. Jagr also praises Slafkovsky’s intelligence, stating that the Slovakian seems to read the game as a whole very well, which allowed him to be the leader that his country needed him to be to lead them to play for a medal.

While this by no means means that Slafkovsky is as good as Jagr was at the same age, it does show that he’s getting serious recognition around the world outside both Montreal and Slovakia. So much so that the greatest hockey player in Czechia/Czechoslovakia history is seeing glimpses of himself in the former 2022 1st overall pick.

What this essentially means is that nobody in the hockey world is doubting that the Canadiens made the right selection back in 2022 anymore. The Habs got a potential star modern-day power forward who has learned to use his body to his advantage and dominates play almost every shift that he is out on the ice for Slovakia. Now, it’s just time for him to continue to progress his game at the NHL level.

Unfortunately, Slafkovsky wasn’t able to get Slovakia a medal this time around, but his performance that put all eyes in the hockey world earned him a spot on the Olympic Tournament All-Star team as one of the 3 best forwards. This is quite the accomplishment for a player who was deemed to have dominated the 2022 Olympics as a 17-year old thanks to there being no NHL players, whereas he was able to be a dominant force at various points in each game that he played during this year’s Olympics.

If Slafkovsky continues the way he has over his two Olympic appearances thus far, there is no doubt that he will one day be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame for just how great he’s been for a country of 5 million people on an international stage.

Hopefully Slafkovsky can carry his momentum from making the Olympic All-Star team to his game with the Canadiens as they head for the final stretch of the season to maintain their playoff spot.

Despite Jagr’s comparisons of Slafkovsky to himself, we shouldn’t expect him to produce the same numbers as the Czech legend, given that on both puck protection and pure skill, Jagr is in a class of his own where he was one of the 5 best players in the world for around an entire decade in his prime. Slafkovsky is a great player, but his numbers will likely be around the point-per-game mark and probably won’t ever hit 100 points in a season. Nonetheless, Slafkovsky has shown that he will likely have a great career by playing a similar, big-bodied offensive game like Jagr did.

Do you see some of the similarities between Slafkovsky and Jagr at the same age?