Canadiens Notebook: New contract puts wind in Slafkovsky's sails

MONTREAL — Juraj Slafkovsky isn’t just being paid, he’s being empowered.

That’s a critical part of the eight-year, $60.1-million contract he signed with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.

Yes, Slafkovsky got the deal he’s been working for since he left home as a 14-year-old kid. He got life-changing financial security for himself and his family and, as he said during a 12-minute Zoom conference call Tuesday, he’s thrilled about it.

But the Canadiens believing in him enough to give him this deal at 20 years old — and believing him in enough to give it to him based on just 130 games of NHL experience — only reinforces his confidence and offers him a platform to assume more responsibility to get the team to where it aims to go.

Slafkovsky feels it.

“I believe in myself even more when I see that other people trust me and trust my skills and trust me as a person,” he said. “That’s only helping me.”

That was apparent over the last season.

Things started off rocky for Slafkovsky but finished smoothly, and so much of that end result was due to the trust and belief the Canadiens held in the player.

It never wavered at any point, even when Slafkovsky’s confidence in himself appeared to be flatlining in early November.

That’s right when coach Martin St. Louis took out the defibrillator and revived it, bumping the young Slovakian up to the first line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield for the first time for a road game against the St. Louis Blues.

What happened from December onwards — with Slafkovsky ritually playing on the top line and top power play, with him facing top matchups and receiving top ice time — brought the player to a place the Canadiens thought he’d get to quickly when they drafted him first overall in 2022.

What happened Monday should only help bring him closer to where they want him to go.

Slafkovsky may have felt prepared for that next step when the season ended, but now he’s taking it with wind in his sails.

For that, and for everything else, the young Slovakian is thankful to the Canadiens.

“I feel like it’s been like that ever since I came to Montreal — everyone around me was just trusting me all the time and wanted to make me better and everything. It’s just even bigger now (with the contract),” he said. “Obviously, I want to give back. I want to perform and do everything so they know that they made the right decision.”

Slafkovsky will want to reinforce that belief immediately, even if his new contract only kicks in a year from now.

But he knows he has to continue being himself and doesn't need to put any more pressure on his shoulders than he’s been carrying for years.

“You’re not going to score three goals every night,” Slafkovsky said. “You just have to trust the process, and trust your teammates, and do the little things right that the game wants you to do, and then it will come. And obviously there’s pressure because it’s a lot of money, but you’re not going to have eight full years of every single game being good. So you just have to stay focused on the goal, and our goal is something bigger than scoring 30 goals a year or something.”

He said he’s just focused on winning, and that’s exactly what the Canadiens want him to do.

Market thinning, Canadiens patient

Vladimir Tarasenko’s two-year, $9.5-million contract with the Detroit Red Wings, which was signed Wednesday, leaves Daniel Sprong (18 goals) and Tyler Johnson (17 goals) as the highest-scoring unrestricted free agents remaining on the market.

Not exactly bona fide top-six options for the Canadiens, if they’re still looking for help via this route.

I’m not too sure they are.

I’m not saying they won’t try to sign either player, but I don’t think I’d necessarily bet my life savings on it.

The trade route still feels available to the Canadiens if they’re looking for some immediate help, or even a player who can help them both now and in the future.

But one of the things Canadiens GM Kent Hughes said on Monday probably deserves a bit more spotlight than it got in the moment.

“We’ve had a lot of draft capital. We do have a lot of draft capital,” he started. “We will try to use it if we can, but we also understand that draft capital can be used to climb up in the draft…

“Whether we use that (capital) to trade for an existing player, or we use it to trade up in the draft next year, those are all things that are always going to be on the table.”

Having two first-round picks in 2025 is a luxury. One Hughes won’t take for granted.

That he would even mention holding those picks to potentially move up in the next draft tells you how much he values them.

Regardless, if Hughes had a deal worth making right now that would have to include one of those picks, it would probably already be done.

But he isn’t going to force it, no matter how much he’d like to reward his room for its unswerving commitment over the last two challenging seasons.

He’ll wait to see what develops between now and training camp, with hope (but no desperation) to give the Canadiens a boost in their quest to be in the playoff mix.

I think Hughes will get a chance. It’s a long summer, and something is likely to shake loose that makes sense to him and whichever team he’s dealing with.

But I also think Hughes was wise not to make any promises on that front.

Quick thoughts as the off-season slows to a crawl…

1. Is it too soon to ponder what Kirby Dach’s been thinking over the last few months? He already looked ready to bust out before tearing two ligaments in his knee in the second game of the season, but can you imagine how fired up he is to catch up with teammates he watched take huge strides?

The Canadiens felt they would have been a lot closer to the playoffs with him healthy. They led the league in games decided by a goal and felt he could’ve made a major difference in swinging more of them their way.

I wonder how much Dach’s desire to prove himself can offset what he must overcome physically. Having the ACL and MCL of your knee reconstructed is as challenging as it gets to come back from without missing a beat.

But I wouldn’t bet against Dach doing it. He’s going to be a man on a mission.

2. While everyone pencils one or two of Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher and Lane Hutson into the Canadiens’ opening-night roster, I’m still trying to think of a downside of having all three of them start in Laval next season.

Don’t get me wrong, they should play where they deserve to. They have to come to training camp feeling like they have a legitimate chance to make the NHL roster and that space will be made for them if they outplay their competition.

And yes, the fans deserve the entertainment any one or all three players can bring.

But they’re all going to play NHL games this season, and I think it could end up being a win-win for all three to gain a bit more seasoning at a lower level. Especially if no other defencemen are traded off the roster this summer.

The opportunity for Jordan Harris, Justin Barron, Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble to increase their value to the Canadiens (or on the market) is the other side of the equation here. With Johnathan Kovacevic traded to New Jersey, they’re in a better position to do exactly that.

3. Leaving you all with three questions:

- How many goals will Caufield score if he stays healthy for 82 games?

- Who will play more games in the top six: Alex Newhook or Joshua Roy?

- What’s the goaltending split going to be between Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau?