Even the greatest hockey minds on the planet are hardly infallible. Once the Montreal Canadiens and their fans can wrap their heads around that simple but undeniably true concept, the one that Juraj Slafkovsky may actually belong in the American Hockey League becomes all the more plausible.
Take general manager Kent Hughes’ predecessor, Marc Bergevin, for example. Not only are all GMs hired to be eventually fired, indicating the propensity for mistakes, but Bergevin has actually admitted to making some… literally years in advance of getting let go.
More recently than that, as Bergevin’s time at the helm of the Canadiens was coming to a close, he suggested he may have made the wrong decision with Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s development (from ‘Marc Bergevin defends Canadiens’ development record,’ The Athletic, Sept. 6, 2021).
Revisiting the Kotkaniemi Saga
By then, it was arguably too late, though. Kotkaniemi had officially joined the Carolina Hurricanes after having signed an offer sheet. Bergevin then traded the 2022 first-round pick he got as compensation to the Arizona Coyotes (along with a second-round pick) for Christian Dvorak, as maybe a knee-jerk reaction to losing another center, which was arguably another mistake.
Related: Canadiens Get Short-Term Upgrade on Kotkaniemi in Dvorak
After all, the Canadiens finished in last place that ensuing 2021-22 season in one of the worst campaigns in Habs history. They didn’t get much better in 2022-23, meaning, whether you like Dvorak or don’t, he hasn’t exactly contributed to a great deal of team success at least not yet.
In comparison, the San Jose Sharks eventually used that first-round pick on another center, Filip Bystedt, who, one might assume, would be more valuable to a rebuilding team like the Canadiens. Other highly touted prospects, centers even like Jiri Kulich and Brad Lambert, were also still available.
Hughes Can Make Mistakes… Has Already in Fact
That 2022 NHL Entry Draft was infamously the one in which Slafkovsky went first overall to the Canadiens. At this point, there’s no point second-guessing the selection, because no on really knows how he, Shane Wright, Logan Cooley, etc. will pan out just yet. Slafkovsky’s development will go a long way toward ensuring Hughes’ legacy and, based on what we’ve seen so far, his development hasn’t exactly gone well.
That’s where the notion that a guy like Hughes can make mistakes comes into play. Sure, it’s easy to criticize decisions made by a team’s front office in a conference room from a keyboard, but it’s even easier to assume the people making those decisions are right simply because they’ve earned their way into the conference room in the first place. Blind faith is not a good thing. There’s always room for critical thinking.
So, it shouldn’t be controversial to suggest Slafkovsky’s rookie season far from went ideally. He scored four goals and 10 points in 39 games, before suffering a season-ending injury in January. Then you look at the fact Slafkovsky got only 12:13 in ice time per game, “good” for the 30th rank on the team, when the Calgary Flames only had 29 skaters register ice time.
True, that 29th-ranked Flame (Radim Zohorna for the record), played less than Slafkovsky (8:25). However, there should be no justification why Slafkovsky, the team’s top prospect for all intents and purposes, got played less than someone like Evgeny Dadonov (14:32), who was on his way out of the organization and wasn’t exactly putting up points himself playing the same position.
No one can realistically suggest with a straight face that Slafkovsky got more benefit playing as little as he did with the Canadiens than he would have with more minutes with the Laval Rocket in the AHL. It’s that simple. Mistakes get made. In all likelihood, this was yet another one, just under a different regime, because there was no good reason to rush Slafkovsky when he wasn’t yet acclimated to the North America game. Know what? There still isn’t. Crazy, right?
To be fair, things can change, as it remains to be seen what strides Slafkovsky has made over the summer in training camp. It is very much possible he earns a roster spot. If he does, so be it, but the Canadiens can’t afford to let their pride get in the way and come to the conclusion Slafkovsky shouldn’t be demoted simply because he stayed in the NHL the length of his rookie season. “Stayed” is a very generous assessment of the situation to be clear.
Hughes vs. Bergevin
For a team filled to the brim with NHL players to the point free agency shouldn’t even be an option, the Canadiens should embrace the fact they have the option instead to send Slafkovsky down through waivers for the sake of giving him more time to develop. It’s one more way to learn from Bergevin’s tenure, but this time on Hughes’ part. After all, Kotkaniemi spent some time with the Rocket in his sophomore season (from ‘’This is a good stop for me,’ Kotkaniemi says of demotion to Rocket,’ Montreal Gazette, Feb. 3, 2020).
Maybe circumstances are slightly different in that the Canadiens should hope Slafkovsky turns out better than Kotkaniemi, which is probably an understatement. However, Kotkaniemi is also just 22 and is starting to turn things around after a relatively successful career-high 18-goal, 43-point season with the Hurricanes.
So, it’s not like Slafkovsky is irreparably damaged from how badly things have gone so far, at least not yet, but they definitely need to get better. Hughes needn’t look too far back, namely his hiring, for inspiration as to why that’s the case. Of course, he’s got a lot more slack to go, considering Bergevin got a decade… which may have been a mistake in and of itself.
All that to say, everyone’s learning on the job. By all appearances, Slafkovsky still has more to learn before he’s NHL-ready. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s everything wrong with continuing to follow a formula that doesn’t work. Changes to that formula must be made. If not, personnel changes are a thing, and not necessarily regarding Hughes. Do the Canadiens really want to let another high draft pick slip through their fingers?
In case it wasn’t clear, they shouldn’t. In contrast, they should be open to playing Slafkovsky in the AHL in 2023-24. You’d think that would be a given. It comedically isn’t.
