NHL | Slovak tango. The winners of the draft wrote NHL history

On Tuesday, the 19-year-old Slovak friends went to dinner together, and a day later, things sparked between them several times at the bar in the Prudential Center. Slafkovský had a bigger reason to be happy after the match, who contributed to the 3:2 win with the sixth goal of the season and has a record of 4+6 in the last 15 matches. But Cole Caufield’s assist was especially exceptional, sending the attacker from Košice into a scoring position with a pass from the air.

“Cole is a great player and he can do things like that. I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time. I don’t even know how it got there, so don’t ask me. The puck was kind of bouncing and I just slapped it and saw it in the net,” Slafkovský described.

The German, who was on the ice at that moment, did not look after his friends and ended up with a -3 score. However, he contributed to the Devils’ equalizing goal in the power play with an assist and pleased his dad, who came to see him.

“Šimon is a great offensive player. He can create and is also very smart. I’m sure his game will only grow as he only has around twenty games (21) in the NHL. It will keep getting better. I can’t wait to see him make progress. It’s nice when you have someone here with whom you grew up and you can push each other to be better,” said Slafkovský.

The best striker of the Beijing Olympics did not finish last rookie season due to injury, and his performances (4+6 in 39 starts) were sometimes embarrassing. Canadiens fans muttered that their club should have taken Shane Wright, who was eventually drafted by Seattle at No. 4.

But the second year is much more successful for Slafkovský, also due to the fact that coach Martin St. Louis included in the elite line with Caufield and Nick Suzuki. The German spent the first year after the draft on the farm in Utica, where he also started the new season, before the Devils pulled him up on December 1 and gave him a lot of room to play (he last played 21:53 minutes).

Meanwhile, Slafkovský has already played a total of 83 games in the NHL and is slowly starting to fulfill the expectations associated with the number one draft pick. “I feel much better, I see progress and I’m sure that I will only grow,” the Slovakian talent declared confidently.

2024-01-18 13:02:26
#NHL #Slovak #tango #winners #draft #wrote #NHL #history