Juraj Slafkovsky game breakdown

I dove deeper into his performance against Team USA on opening day of the World Juniors.

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Death, taxes, and the New Jersey Devils moving up on draft lottery night. Lady Luck was on their side yet again on Tuesday as they jumped from 5th overall to 2nd overall.

Shane Wright is understandably the heavy favorite to go 1st overall to Montreal. There is no consensus at No. 2, though, with a plethora of prospects worthy of consideration.

In the coming weeks and months I’m going to be doing game breakdowns of prospects that meet the criteria.

We’ll get things started with power winger Juraj Slafkovsky, taking a closer look at his effort against Team USA at the World Junior Championship.

Hat tip to AMScouting on Youtube for the shift-by-shift footage used in these clips.

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The Good

• While Slafkovsky didn’t body guys all over the ice, he did use his size effectively to win possessions. Here, he leans on the USA player and takes the puck away with a quick stick. He showed good patience with it upon recovery, holding onto the dish and waiting for a lane to open up as opposed to throwing it away. He was stick checked as he was about to make a pass but the puck still made its way over to a teammate and allowed Slovakia to fight for possession. Beats throwing it away.

• One of Slafkovsky’s calling cards is forechecking. With such size, and reach, he can make life miserable on defenders trying to exit the zone. As the F2 he pressures the puck carrier, forcing him to defer to his teammate. Slafkovsky makes contact and pressures the defender, forcing a soft dump-out attempt that goes right to a Slovakian teammate.