Canadiens counting on Juraj Slafkovsky to be a ‘difference maker’ in playoffs

BROSSARD – As Juraj Slafkovsky struggled to find his footing in the NHL, Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis drew an analogy between his development and the GPS app “Waze.”

Just 19 at the time, Slafkovsky had taken wrong turns and been caught in gridlock, but St. Louis remained confident he would eventually arrive.

“If you miss an exit, do you get upset, turn around and go home, or does it reroute you and you still get to your destination?” St. Louis said in November 2023.

“Slaf is headed to a nice destination. We don’t know exactly how long it’s going to take, and sometimes there’s traffic. He can’t get upset, he can’t get discouraged.”

Less than three years later, Slafkovsky is nearing that destination — and the Canadiens will count on him to keep going when they open their first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Hard work is paying off and he doesn’t want to stop. He wants to continue to go,” defenceman Lane Hutson said after practice Thursday. “He’s becoming more and more of the player he wants to be.

“Asserting himself more, trusting himself more. It’s fun to see.”

While linemates Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki grabbed the spotlight with 50-goal and 100-point campaigns, the six-foot-three, 225-pound forward slid under the radar with 30 goals, becoming the first Slovak to reach the milestone since Marian Hossa in 2013-14.

Slafkovsky, 22,added 43 assists — 10 more than his previous career high — fulfilling his promise as the impactful power forward the Canadiens envisioned when they selected him first overall in 2022.

“It’s just confidence,” Slafkovsky said of his progression. “I trust myself to make more plays. I trust my skill … But the main part starts now.”

The young, skilled Canadiens (48-24-10) are playoff-bound for the second straight year after finishing third in a deep Atlantic Division with 106 points, their highest total since 2014-15. Game 1 against the experienced Lightning (50-26-6) is scheduled for Sunday in Tampa, Fla.

Montreal centre Jake Evans said Slafkovsky has played well all season, but believes fans could see him reach another level once the puck drops at Benchmark International Arena. That’s especially after watching him lead an underdog Slovakia team to a fourth-place finish at February’s Milan Cortina Olympics.

“In the bigger games, he can step up and be that difference maker,” Evans said. “Saw it in the Olympics, we saw it in some bigger games down the stretch here. When things are getting tough, he’s a guy who can step up.”

“Any time you’re a top player growing up and turning into a first overall pick, there’s a lot of pressure, especially in this city,” he added. “He is a guy who has handled it really well and continuously grown into a better and better player, and he’s still a really young kid.”

St. Louis’ connection between “Waze” and Slafkovsky’s non-linear growth came days after he first slotted the then-slumping sophomore onto the top line with Suzuki and Caufield, a successful move that ultimately buried concerns he might become a “bust.”

That combination stuck until mid-November this season, when St. Louis put Slafkovsky on the second line with rookies Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen for the better part of three months. It was another decision that paid dividends for the Canadiens.

Though a demotion in the lineup, the move was actually a vote of confidence for Slafkovsky, who learned to drive his own line after previously deferring to his elite linemates.

“It was good. I spent a lot of time with (Caufield and Suzuki), so I got a lot of experience, and maybe I had the chance to pass that experience to some other guys,” he said. “It helped me a lot.”

Slafkovsky, by all accounts, returned a better player when he reunited with Suzuki and Caufield on March 6.

“He was trusting himself more,” Hutson said. “We’ve known he could do that, but yeah, I think he just is trusting his instincts more, playing a little more freely.”

St. Louis, meanwhile, is expecting more of Slafkovsky’s best version come Sunday.

“It’s his pace and his physicality,” he said. “When he’s at his best, you hope you get that version, and I think the playoffs pull the best out of people.”

RIGHT SHOT REINFORCEMENTS

A welcome sight for the Canadiens on Thursday: defenceman Alexandre Carrier skated in a regular practice jersey on a pairing with after two weeks on the shelf with an upper-body injury.

Carrier’s potential return ahead of the playoffs fills a major area of need after fellow right-shot defenceman Noah Dobson was ruled out for at least two weeks on Sunday. Carrier is plus-2 with seven goals and 15 assists in 73 games this season, averaging 19:05 in ice time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2024.