Juraj Slafkovsky’s recent play has raised some eyebrows in Montreal, despite putting up decent numbers with three goals and three assists in his last eight games.
The big forward had been showing flashes of his true potential earlier this season, finally embracing his power forward role instead of trying to play like Jack Hughes. But lately, something’s been missing.
Gilbert Delorme didn’t mince words on BPM Sports’ “Le Club du Matin” about the young Slovak’s performance.
“He needs to take advantage of his large frame. He needs to be tough to face and right now, he’s not,” Delorme said. “These guys need to step-up in the middle of the playoff race.”
The criticism didn’t stop there.
Host Greg Lanctot pointed out that Slafkovsky has become the weak link on the power play. He even suggested that next year’s arrival of Ivan Demidov could push Slaf off the first power-play unit entirely.
There’s a bigger power play puzzle to solve here. Having both Patrik Laine and Cole Caufield on the same unit isn’t working as well as expected. Caufield’s effectiveness has dropped since moving to the right side to accommodate Laine on the left.
Splitting up these natural scorers might actually help balance both power-play units.
Martin St-Louis has some options to shake things up. He could send Slafkovsky a message by taking him off the top power-play unit. Emil Heineman might deserve a shot in that spot, even though he’s been struggling a bit lately. His one-timer could be exactly what the power play needs.
If Laine sits out Tuesday’s game with the flu, Heineman might get that chance sooner rather than later.
The clock is ticking for Slafkovsky to bring back that physical presence the team desperately needs from him. The question is: will a potential power play demotion be the wake-up call he needs?
