BUFFALO | No sooner has the rookie camp started than the debate is already raging over whether Juraj Slafkovsky should start the season in the American League in Montreal or in Laval.
• Also read: Juraj Slafkovsky, a colossus among the recruits
A forward who doesn’t show up for the NHL season after being drafted No. 1 is a pretty rare commodity.
You have to return to Methuselah to see a first choice play up front and not immediately join the team that drafted him. Mats Sundin, selected in 1989, had played a season with Djugardens in Sweden’s elite league before sporting the Nordic colors.
“He has a quick draw”
In short, the norm would be for Slafkovsky to start his professional career at the big club. And according to the tone of Jean-François Houle, head coach of the Laval Rocket and coach-elect at Buffalo, who leads the Canadian rookie camp, the Slovakian risks following the trend.
“It’s certain that betting on a first pick in the American League is interesting. We’re open to anything,” he said.
“I think he’s a player who will impress and we hope he stays with the Canadians,” he continued.
Before deciding on the near-term future of the colossus, it is better to wait and see how it will behave in the real training camp that starts next week.
“He’s a big player who can skate. He has a fast draw. He’s a player who needs to get involved and be good at pre-checking,” said Houle, while emphasizing the organization’s expectations of the rookie.
Similar to Puljujarvi
Still, like the players he’d met before him, Houle didn’t remain insensitive to the young athlete’s face.
“It’s rare that we see an 18-year-old of that size. When I was in the Oilers organization, we had that [Jesse] Puljujarvi, who had a similar build at the same age. »
The Swede was Edmonton’s first pick in 2016 (fourth overall) and made the jump with the Oilers early the following season. After struggling to adjust, he returned to the Finnish Elite League after some round trips between Edmonton and Bakersfield in the American League.
He has returned to the Oilers for the 2020-2021 season.