Canadiens’ Slavkovski unjustifiably in the shadow of other No. 1 draft picks – Hockey Writer – Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slavkovski is expected to score 49 points. This shouldn’t be considered a disappointing season, especially since he currently has six goals and is on pace to set a career-high 32 points. After all, Slavkovsky scored 50 and 51 points respectively in the past two seasons. So, he has proven his scoring ability.

However, since the Canadiens just faced the Utah Mammoths on Saturday and Slavkovski’s third overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, Logan Cooley, scored 12 goals (eight), the unfortunate and inevitable comparisons will come up (admittedly, like this article). So, buckle up, why not?

Slavkovski VS Cooley

Now, to be fair, the gap between Slavkovski and Cooley is a modest three points that can be erased in one game. At this point, Slavkovsky had the upper hand. Not only did the Canadiens win, but Slavkovsky scored one point while Cooley was held scoreless. Still, there’s no denying that Cooley has generally begun to establish himself as a player with a more dynamic offense and a higher ceiling after scoring 65 points last season.

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None of this should be shocking. In the upcoming 2022 event, the host Canadiens appear to be deciding between Slavkovsky, who went fourth to the Seattle Kraken (Simon Nemec, second to the New Jersey Devils), and Shane Wright, who was also considered one of the best players that year with legitimate star power.

However, the Canadiens did not select Wright at center, instead selecting 6-foot-3 power forward Slafkovsky (225 pounds). To his credit, he has become a huge contributor (at least 100 minutes) to one of the top lineups in the entire league, albeit as more of a complementary player.

However, there is nothing wrong with this. Even if Ivan Demidov poses a threat to Slafkovsky’s position and could eventually usurp his spot, Slafkovsky’s skill set complements those of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield to a greater extent. And, as long as Slavkovsky is a vital member of the Canadiens, no one should hold the success of Cooley or Wright (who was no less impressive himself, coming off a 44-point season) against him.

Revisiting the Dach trade

Remember, the Canadiens decided to trade center Kirby Dach that night, thus justifying Slavkovsky’s selection. It’s easy to see general manager Kent Hughes’ thought process here. He prefers to try to have his cake and eat it too. He doesn’t just pick the players he thinks are the best. He is assembling a team and picking the players he thinks are the best fit.

Whether Hughes legitimately believes Slavkovsky is the best player or just someone he can build a dominant line or winning team around is, to say the least. Generally speaking, the best approach is to do that and draft the best players available, but you can’t really predict how these things will (and still can) play out (every player is still only 21 years old). Therefore, drafting Slavkovski (and also trading for Dach) was a perfectly viable strategy that seemed to work next season as Dach began to emerge as the Chicago Blackhawks’ top three talent in the 2019 draft. It wasn’t until he suffered a season-ending knee injury two games into the 2023-24 season that doubts began to grow in the minds of Canadiens fans, and another knee injury ended the 2024-25 season prematurely.

Knowing Dach is off to a great start to the 2025-26 season, with four goals in his last three games, is about as good as you could hope for. Ultimately, it’s hard to deny that the Canucks appear to have given up on having him as their third-line center instead of the second-line center they thought they were getting. Oliver Kapanen has clearly taken over that role, scoring an encouraging 10 points in 15 games (although, there’s no denying that this has also transformed the talented Demidov).

Slavkovsky is far from broken

Looking back at Kapanen’s early-season success, things clearly didn’t go the way the Canadiens expected, however, they are still 10-3-2 and proving everyone wrong. Slavkovsky was a big part of that, although it’s clear the Habs could have gone in a different direction three years ago based on what they know now. But to be clear, this is a different emotion than regret. I regret choosing the bust. Slavkovsky is not that person, far from it. He’s a legitimate top player again. We all know that there is a generational talent missing from the Class of 2022, and therefore it is a shame that this generation of talent is being missed. In this case, know what they did Thenthe Habs did as well as they could.

Furthermore, if the Canadiens hadn’t gone down the trade route that night to secure a center, it’s easy to believe they would have chosen Wright over Cooley. Keep this in mind, because all the stars are waiting for Wright to become a habitable module. There’s nothing wrong with that. As mentioned before, he has begun to successfully establish himself as an NHL player, and he is projected to be a second-line center, which is definitely the bottom line for a second-line center, which is undoubtedly the biggest hole in the Habs’ current lineup.

The point is, even given some of the attacks on his character in the local media in Montreal, with many buying into the myth about the alleged lack of character for one reason or another, seemingly to further justify Slavkovsky’s selection, Wright would have been a perfect No. 1 overall pick. The comparison to Cooley would only make sense if the Habs went that route and drafted a center, who clearly had the upper hand early in their respective careers.

Anything can happen from here on out, and the Canadiens and Mammoths, for example, would fool just about anyone as they found themselves tied with a three-way tie for first place overall at the end of October (New Jersey Devils). This suggests that both of those things could be true: Cooley could end up being the player the Habs probably should have drafted, and Slavkovsky could end up being the right choice that the team and city fully embrace. All in all, they definitely don’t need to use this pick to draft the best player possible. When they drafted him with the fourth pick of the night, he was still at No. 62 overall.

Just kidding, kidding (but maybe not).