When the Montreal Canadiens had been contemplating whether or not they need to use the No. 1 decide within the 2022 NHL Draft on Slovak winger Juraj Slafkovský, we got a glimpse at their draft conferences by way of the crew’s annual behind-the-scenes draft video.
In a kind of conferences, Canadiens co-director of beginner scouting Nick Bobrov made his pitch for the hulking winger who was a late riser on draft lists that 12 months.
The primary of the 2 most necessary factors made by Bobrov was about Slafkovský’s persona.
“He simply has that persona to wish to take the bull by the horns,” Bobrov mentioned. “He desires to personal the second, the state of affairs. … He’s doing it with that drive, need, proudly owning the second, and it’s a persona trait. It’s greater than only a talent, a hockey talent. He simply has that persona trait to wish to personal the stage.”
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The second level was concerning the stress Slafkovský had already been dwelling beneath in his native Slovakia, a rustic that noticed him as the following nice hockey hope to comply with within the footsteps of Peter Bondra, Žigmund Pálffy, Marián Hossa, Marián Gáborík, Zdeno Chára and plenty of others, and the way that atmosphere would put together him effectively for the pressure-cooker that’s the Montreal hockey market.
“Lastly, a rustic of 5 million has been speaking about this child for, what, three years now? 4 years now? The stress on him is a rustic, and up to now he’s dealt with it unbelievably effectively,” Bobrov mentioned. “So to gauge how this child can deal with stress, I believe, there’s proof, and the proof is within the pudding — not solely by way of the tournaments however by way of a time frame of perhaps two and half years to 3 years the place he’s been the following one — and he saved getting higher whereas beneath the stress of that five-million inhabitants.”
Two years later, Slafkovský is sitting on the verge of NHL stardom, and his second half of final season gave hope the Canadiens had been appropriate in banking on his persona and his potential to deal with stress to take the danger of creating the unpopular resolution to draft him at No. 1.
However what’s that persona? The place does it come from? And what’s that Slovak fishbowl Slafkovský has lived in since he was 14? How did it put together him for what he’s now experiencing in Montreal?
We went to the supply searching for solutions, spending 40 minutes speaking to Slafkovský final week to resolve these two questions. As a result of these questions are, in some ways, the origin story of why Slafkovský is poised to turn out to be a central a part of the Canadiens rebuild.
And it begins in Slovakia.
The fishbowl
Slafkovský was not the one Slovak participant to be drafted within the first spherical of the 2022 draft. Šimon Nemec went No. 2 to the New Jersey Devils and Filip Mešár went at No. 26 to the Canadiens. Adam Sýkora went within the second spherical to the New York Rangers, and two extra Slovaks adopted within the sixth and seventh rounds that 12 months.
Having 4 gamers from Slovakia go within the first two rounds in 2022 matched the nation’s whole of drafted gamers from the earlier three drafts mixed.
However regardless of having a lot firm that 12 months, being drafted No. 1 — one thing no Slovak participant had ever performed — put Slafkovský into one other stratosphere when it comes to his celeb standing at dwelling.
“Slovakia is just not a giant nation, so everybody is aware of him because the day he acquired drafted first general,” Mešár mentioned of his good buddy. “Clearly in all places he goes, all the pieces he does, it’s already on the web on daily basis. Like, the following day. So he must be sensible with the issues he does off the ice. I might say everybody’s watching him. He’s the largest celebrity there. So, it’s not straightforward for him, however he can deal with it.”
The very best-drafted Slovak participant earlier than Slafkovský was Marián Gáborík, who went No. 3 to the Minnesota Wild in 2000, a draft spot Nemec additionally surpassed when he was picked second. When Nemec goes dwelling, he too feels the glare of that fishbowl.
However not like Slafkovský.
“I’ve slightly little bit of bother, and he’s acquired actually massive bother,” Nemec mentioned. “That’s the distinction.”
Slovak countrymen Šimon Nemec, left, Juraj Slafkovský, middle, and Filip Mešár pose on the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Photos)
It’s the kind of celeb standing that’s obscure, even in Montreal the place Canadiens gamers are handled like gods. Nevertheless it’s not the identical.
“I can’t keep in mind (seeing) that in style of a man in Slovakia,” Nemec mentioned. “I believe he has thoughts and he’s doing actually good now. I believe he doesn’t really feel the stress of the Slovak folks. … The stress is tough, however I believe he can do it.”
For Slafkovský, nonetheless, it’s not as straightforward as he makes it appear to his good pals Mešár and Nemec. It’s a fixed grind. When he goes out to eat along with his pals, he visits eating places owned by his pals’ dad and mom, is available in by way of the again door and dines in a non-public room. He is not going to go to a bar and seize a drink with pals. He avoids doing groceries or procuring along with his little sister as a result of the tour turns into an prolonged photograph shoot. Photographs of his dwelling get revealed within the media. Photographs of his mom’s health club get revealed within the native media. Any morsel of data on him, irrespective of how banal, is fodder for a narrative.
And so when Slafkovský goes dwelling, he hides. He doesn’t have to cover in Montreal.
“No, Montreal is approach higher. I do all the pieces. Montreal, I can buy groceries. Like, if I am going grocery procuring again dwelling, I in all probability take 25 photos. Right here it’s extra numerous, various kinds of folks from totally different elements of the world, so not everybody is aware of you. In Slovakia, everybody is aware of you. In a retailer, the woman that sells you stuff is aware of you, in case you go clear a swimsuit they know you there, in case you go purchase a guide, she is aware of you. It’s not like that right here,” Slafkovský mentioned.
“I by no means had this occur right here. Everyone seems to be all the time saying, oh, the Montreal media. I by no means had something like this occurring right here. You deal with hockey, and if I made 17 dangerous passes, you’re in all probability going to say 23, however I get that. That’s fully wonderful with me. However don’t take photos of my home. I’ve youngsters ringing my bell on daily basis (in Slovakia). I don’t reside in downtown Košice, I reside outdoors town, however now everybody is aware of the place I reside as a result of it was within the media.
“I’ve realized the best way to reside with it, nevertheless it simply pisses me off inside. I’ll say it. However there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Slafkovský has refused to offer interviews with a number of Slovak journalists. One in all them is Štefan Bugan, of the media outlet Denník N, whose life has been turned the other way up making an attempt to report on Slafkovský.
The historical past of Slovak hockey is necessary to grasp when making an attempt to make sense of the infatuation folks there have with Slafkovský, the context of what creates this hysteria that surrounds him always.
It goes again to the dissolution of the previous Czechoslovakia, Bugan says. When Slovakia turned its personal nation, the hockey program was dropped into the third tier of worldwide hockey. It was slowly constructed as much as the purpose the place Slovakia gained the silver medal on the 2000 world championships and two years later, gained the gold medal. It was a watershed second within the nation, contributing to a way of id the nation was looking for ever because the dissolution in 1993.
“It’s one of many greatest issues that ever occurred on this nation,” Bugan mentioned of the world championships gold. “Not sports activities issues, however general. It was sort of a unifying second for the nation.”
That was a golden period of Slovak hockey, however then a lull hit, and Slafkovský is seen because the face of the tip of that lull. Which explains the media protection he will get at dwelling.
For this reason Bugan spent the final two seasons, so long as Slafkovský was wholesome, dwelling a weird life in Slovakia.
“If you get up in Slovakia you’ve got numerous articles about how Slovak gamers performed. Not simply Juraj, different gamers too, however he’s the primary story when he’s taking part in,” Bugan mentioned. “The standard protection is the journalist wakes up at perhaps 5 a.m., which in Montreal is about 11 p.m. after the sport, and he simply watches the highlights and reads some tweets and he writes a narrative. When he has no factors, it’s that Slafkovský performed horrible, one thing destructive. I don’t prefer it as a result of it’s not the actual factor. So final season, I watched each shift of Slafkovský. Each one.
“I used to be dwelling in Slovakia on Canadian time.”
However Slafkovský doesn’t see it the identical approach, even when he understands the supply of that media protection is how a lot his nation loves him. He sees it as poisonous — one thing that impacts not solely his high quality of life, however that of his household as effectively.
Nonetheless, his standing as Slovakia’s subsequent massive star is one thing Slafkovský absolutely embraces.
“Oh, I like it,” he mentioned. “Like I mentioned, I wish to be the very best and I all the time wished to be the very best. So clearly I wish to be the very best Slovakian participant. I’m wonderful with that. I simply hate what comes with it as a result of I see different nations and I see different gamers that don’t have this, although they’re higher gamers than me.”
And that line — how he’s all the time wished to be the very best — is the place the persona is available in.
The persona
When requested what he means by desirous to be the very best, whether or not he means the very best on the planet or the very best model of himself, Slafkovský pauses briefly to suppose.
“I might say the very best model of myself,” he mentioned. “However I believe if I’m the very best model of myself, I will be among the best on the planet. Clearly you’ve got particular gamers on this world, and I don’t know if I will be on the extent of a (Connor) McDavid or a (Nathan) MacKinnon or a (Auston) Matthews, however I can convey one thing. And to me, the reply to that is what number of rings you’ve got on the finish of your profession.”
Then he pauses once more, to take a look at his hand, with no rings on it.
“For those who can have a look at your hand like this and you’ve got not less than two,” he continues, “then you’ll be able to say you had been fairly good.”
Slafkovský has lived with that degree of scrutiny in Slovakia since he was roughly 14 years previous, and the Canadiens assumed this scrutiny formed his persona. Nevertheless it dates again a lot additional than that. A lot in order that Slafkovský doesn’t keep in mind a time he wasn’t this manner.
“I believe it’s simply that I all the time wished to be the very best, in all the pieces I did, even outdoors hockey. Any competitors, I wished to be the very best,” he mentioned. “And I by no means cared. I don’t suppose I ever cared. I solely cared what my coach mentioned, however I by no means actually cared what folks needed to say. It in all probability was dangerous once I was a child in class and stuff, however I believe I used to be the identical approach. Somebody would inform me one thing, and I might be like, ‘Nah.’ I might have my very own reality in my head. It’s sort of dangerous whenever you’re a child, however then whenever you develop up, I really feel like that sort of helps me.”
There’s extra to it than that. When he took a while to consider it, Slafkovský was ready to determine the place this comes from.
His mom, Gabriela.
She is headstrong. She doesn’t care what anybody else thinks.
“My mother by no means had that many pals as a result of she was all the time trustworthy with everybody and she or he all the time mentioned what she thought. If it was dangerous or good, she would say it. If she was pondering one thing dangerous about somebody, inform them immediately,” Slafkovský mentioned. “I’m the identical approach…So I believe it’s due to my mother and the best way she is. I’m just about identical to her.
“I believe it was all the time there due to her. Due to what I noticed.”
And to grasp simply how headstrong Slafkovský is at age 20, you solely must get him again speaking about Slovakia and the state of the sport in his dwelling nation.
“I can say a lot s–t about Slovakia proper now that I wish to change,” he started. “However I gained’t.”
After which he did. As a result of Slafkovský doesn’t care what anybody else thinks.
“The Slovak hockey federation, a few issues have to alter there for us to achieve success once more,” he mentioned. “As a result of I really feel we acquired the Olympic (bronze) medal (in 2022), and folks get glad by these items, however that was fortunate as a result of there was no NHL gamers. Let’s be trustworthy, we wouldn’t have gained that medal if everybody had their full squad. However we get glad by these little issues. … We predict we’re doing issues the correct approach, however we’re not. We’re simply pretending. And we try to promote it to the people who we’re doing issues the correct approach by pushing these faux outcomes.
“Clearly it’s the best factor that ever occurred to me that I gained the Olympic medal, however be trustworthy about it.”
Juraj Slafkovský celebrates after scoring for Slovakia within the bronze-medal recreation on the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. (Gabriel Bouys / AFP through Getty Photos)
Slafkovský mentioned he thinks hockey in Slovakia wants wholesale modifications, that there should not sufficient high quality coaches and that selections are too typically made for the unsuitable causes, due to who a participant’s father is or whom he is aware of as an alternative of how effectively he can play. When he was 12, Slafkovský’s father acquired along with a bunch of different dad and mom and shaped an elite choose crew that traveled to the Québec Metropolis peewee event and different North American occasions. Eight gamers who participated in that program had been drafted in 2022 or 2023, and one other was signed as an undrafted free agent.
There was one participant drafted out of Slovakia in 2024.
“Let’s simply say all these gamers that acquired drafted went by way of that crew,” Slafkovský mentioned. “In order that reveals one thing, no?”
The rationale the fathers put that choose crew collectively, Slafkovský mentioned, was to get their youngsters out of the hockey system and the nepotism that defines it. One instance he cited is the U16 and U17 nationwide packages that run camps in the summertime refuse to ask gamers who’re taking part in abroad in North America as a result of, he mentioned, “the folks working it are scared that their very own child gained’t play, or he is aware of this man’s father and his child must play.”
“It’s all about connections in Slovakia,” he mentioned. “I see it, and everyone seems to be scared to speak about it.”
So, what had been Slafkovský’s connections?
“Me? Yeah, I might play hockey, that was my connection,” he mentioned. “There was no choice for them as a result of I knew the best way to play, really.”
The answer, Slafkovský believes, is to “clean up” the Slovak hockey federation.
“In all probability we’d like extra folks to work for the federation, however nobody desires to work for that,” he mentioned. “You suppose Hossa desires to work for the federation? No. Gáborík? No. It’s due to some folks which can be already there, they do it their very own approach, so they profit from it, and never Slovak hockey.
“That’s my opinion.”
This can be a lot for a 20-year-old to have on his plate: the state of hockey in his dwelling nation, the fixed media consideration in his dwelling nation and managing these two realities of his life at dwelling.
In the midst of all that, being an important a part of the Canadiens rebuild appears comparatively minor. Nevertheless it’s not.
As Slafkovský mentioned, he’ll measure his profession based mostly on the variety of rings on his fingers, and as a way to obtain that, this rebuild will have to be profitable. He has all the time measured his success by way of crew success as a result of he has proof of that being true. Many felt he was stifled taking part in in Finland for TPS Turku, however he disagrees as a result of he performed within the Liiga finals in his draft 12 months. The actual fact Slovakia gained that Olympic bronze medal, whatever the degree of competitors, allowed Slafkovský to play extra video games and finally be named MVP of the event.
And now, with all the pieces his life at dwelling has taught him and his inherently impartial convictions, Slafkovský is able to use all his baggage to take that very same step with the Canadiens.
“Individuals all the time wish to have winners on their groups,” he mentioned. “I’d somewhat have a winner that scores 5 much less targets than some loser that simply focuses on scoring 40 targets.”
It’s protected to say the Canadiens share his opinion on that.
(High photograph: Bruce Bennett / Getty Photos)