SLAFFFFFFer such a nice deal ! WENT WHUGHES hard time.

Risky

the 20 goals and 50 points dont tell the whole story. it took some time for him to be put on that first line, and once he did, he scored at around 70 points pace... AT 19 YEARS OLD.

risky contract ? its not risk free, but the odds higher that its gonna be a steal of a deal instead of a bad contract.

Montour is also 30 while slaf is 20 lmao

Hughes could've waited until mid season to sign him to see if he progressed, but maybe at that point the contract would've been 8+ millions

He’s really not good defenively though. He’s getting paid because he’s an offensive defensemen.

They did the same with Suzuki, locking him up long term before he'd really done anything to deserve the money, but in doing so, avoiding bigger money if they waited until he proved he deserved it. This strategy works out more often than not for these top prospects. Look at how much New Jersey is saving with Hischier and Jack Hughes.

Boldy signed 7x$7M in January 2023 with the same career stats, while being 2 years older. Slaf is a STUD.

Made a mistake. My bad. FWIW I'm in favor of this contract. I was responding to someone who said they didn't like it. My comment was meant to show it wasn't that far off base compared to some others that are handed out. I just chose the wrong contract comparison.

Bargain deal. I expected him to wait

Slafkovsky is probably their best player up front in a year or two if not already. The incredible improvement over the year would indicate a higher upside than Suzuki or Caufield.

It will come down to Demidov and if The Russian can take some pressure off Juraj once teams start to target Slaf.

20 goals and 40 points for a defenseman are very different than for a forward. 20 g in particular is a special year for a dman

its hard to tell. skill is sort of an issue with slaf. he got size, he is smart, goot good visions, good puck protection, but his shot and his overall offensive plays needs work. I think suzuki is gonna be our best player still for a little while.

Seems REALLY excessive. Benefits of being first overall a few years ago I suppose...

People said the same thing about Jack Hughes, Nick Suzuki, etc’s similar deal and they generally end up looking good, you’re betting on the player to continue to grow and when a couple years have passed, the player is worth more and you have a bargain

lol this is gonna be a steal. can't believe almost 1/3 of people voted no so far. casuals or people who hate how good the habs are gonna be ig

Assuming he hasn't peaked, this is a great deal.

They're paying Slaf for what he will do, not what he has done. I think it's risky, but I've been wrong many times before.

I like this contract for Montreal. I think Slafkovsky showed enough to be worth the gamble, and the upside is that he should be improving while the cap increases, making this deal hit it's highest value right when this team is likely to be moving into contending status.

I like that they seem to have a bit of an internal structure, they still need a superstar player at the top of this young core to push to that contender level, but Demidov could be exactly that, and the salaries they have their young guys on make that very affordable to pay someone a big salary down the road. While I don't believe every one of these deals turns out to be a steal, (Caulfield for example), I think the value ends up being at least decent later on, and with Slaf and Suzuki, I think the value could be excellent in a pretty short time frame, and this is the type of risk to take while you are building.

Why not sign a bridge contract in case one of the big 3 doesn't work out? Seems like a lot of eggs in one basket.