BROSSARD, Que. — On the very first day of Canadiens training camp, we heard from a young, promising player important to the team’s future about how a year ago, he did not take the offseason seriously enough, and how this most recent offseason was much different, how he felt better prepared to attack training camp and the start of the season at full throttle.
And thus far, what we’ve seen from Kirby Dach has proven what he said on that first day of camp. He has looked quicker, more assertive and ready for the season.
On the final day of Canadiens training camp on Tuesday, just before boarding a flight for Toronto to open the 2025-26 NHL season against the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, we heard a very similar story from another young, promising player important to the team’s future.
We have not heard often from Juraj Slafkovský this training camp, but after Tuesday’s practice, he agreed to an interview request from The Athletic, though he preferred to do it in a private area of the Canadiens’ practice facility to avoid a media scrum. He has kept a low profile throughout camp, and this was no different.
When he was asked how his offseason training went, we got a distinct sense of déjà vu.
“I was just working hard, getting better,” Slafkovský said. “Don’t ask questions, just do whatever I had to do, whatever Big Cat (director of hockey development Adam Nicholas) sends me on the ice, whatever my strength coach sends me in the gym.
“Maybe the year before I was too comfortable or something, I don’t know, but I feel like my summer was way harder and way better this year than the year before. I don’t know why, but that’s just my feeling.”
This has been a common theme of Canadiens training camp: hearing about how hard everyone worked in the summer, how much time players spent in Montreal to work out. But what’s more important behind all those stories is a group of young players coming of age, learning how hard it is to excel in the NHL, the commitment it requires.
Slafkovský is well aware of how slowly he has started the season every year he has been with the Canadiens. When the team hit the Christmas break last season, Slafkovský had four goals and 15 assists in 31 games with a minus-11 rating, and perhaps more tellingly, had only 41 shots on goal in those 31 games. He was fifth on the team in scoring, far behind his regular linemates Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
He desperately wants to avoid a similar start this year, and so far, in his few interactions with the media, Slafkovský has been businesslike; brief answers, to the point and direct.
Is that by design?
“I’m trying not to talk too much and do the job on the ice. … (Last year) I would always talk every day about what I need to do and then I wasn’t doing it and then I just came back and I was saying it again,” Slafkovský said. “So, yeah, stop the talking and do the job.”
The point of emphasis for Slafkovský remains the same as it has been from the day he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2022, to use his speed and his size to be a physical presence on the ice. It is a critical part of the performance of his line, which is one of the best in the NHL. When Slafkovský is physical, he creates space for Suzuki to operate, for Caufield to find dead areas of the ice to unleash his shot.
In many ways, he is what makes that line go when he is doing those things, things he is more than capable of doing, but things that have not always come naturally to him.
But he knows what his job is.
“Well, I think I’m the biggest guy on that line,” Slafkovský said. “I think I can win a lot of pucks for the guys and make all these plays, be net front, be big. I want them to know that when they have nothing, they can just throw the puck down low, and they can trust me that I can figure out a play down low to bring the puck back to them. Because they’re working in a different area of the ice than I should be working in.
“If I do the job I need to do, and they do the job they need to do, I feel like we can be really good.”
BIENVENUE EN SÉRIES, JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY
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— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 26, 2025
This is one of the biggest areas of improvement the Canadiens can show this season. When Slafkovský is at his most impactful self, the Canadiens’ top line becomes a buzzsaw, dominating shifts in the offensive zone, cycling pucks and making opponents’ lives miserable. But a lot of that starts with Slafkovský securing possession on a dump-in, or winning a battle for a 50-50 puck on the wall, or creating havoc in front of the net.
“I think he shows it every now and then,” Caufield said Tuesday. “When he has the puck, he has confidence. He’s willing to give it up at times, but when he keeps it, he’s a more effective player in those situations where he can kind of push the guy off, beat him one-on-one and then create off that. I think the more times he gets touches, the better he is. Whether that means going to get it or coming towards the puck to create a two-on-one, I think it’s just his ability to kind of make a one-on-one situation better for himself to push off a guy and create for everybody else.
“I think he’s learning and growing how and when to use his body. Obviously, he knows he’s huge and he’s very good at protecting the puck and creating off that, but I think he’s at his best when he’s doing that and kind of playing through people. That’s part of learning the game and he’s starting to figure that out. But for sure, we’ve got something special. I think you’ll see it pretty soon.”
As far as Slafkovský is concerned, pretty soon is too late. He intends to show it now.
And it’s not because of the pressure from the outside, or even the pressure he puts on himself. It’s because of what Caufield just said, it’s about his expectations and those of his teammates. He wants to show it to them more often than “every now and then.”
That is his biggest motivation to show, starting Wednesday night, what the best version of himself looks like.
“It’s not about myself; I want to show it to the guys sitting next to me in the locker room,” Slafkovský said. “I want to prove to them I’ll be there every time they need me on the ice, do whatever I have to do for this team to be successful.
“It’s not necessarily about what I have to prove to myself, but I want to prove it to them and help the bigger cause.”
Make no mistake, Slafkovský has big ambitions for himself, and big expectations as well. The pressure he feels from himself is significant.
But there is also a culture of accountability forming within this group of players where the level of commitment in the room is regulated by the room, by the commitment of the person sitting on either side of you.
And in that sense, Slafkovský says he is done making excuses. He is done talking.
He is about doing. He is about now.
“I would say maybe so far, this is the most important (year of my career),” he said. “I feel like the past three years, everyone was just giving me a break, saying I’m still young or whatever. Well, I’m still young, but I wouldn’t say age matters in this league as much as the experience and the games played. When you’ve played 200 games, with every 50 or 100 games, you should be able to take a step forward and make your game better. When the guys have 300 or 400 games, then they’re the final product.
“I just need to prove that I can be consistent all year. Once I do that, I think I’ll be a step closer to where I want to be.”
