Juraj Slafkovsky lost a dozen pounds

When you check out Hockey DB, Hockey Prospects or the NHL’s official website, you come to one thing: Juraj Slafkovsky weighs 238 pounds. The winger is among the most imposing at his position in the NHL.

But despite his imposing frame, the fact remains that he was pushed around last year. Occasionally, smaller players managed to send him to the ground with a well-placed check.

My point is this: big or not, a player can be knocked down. That said, no matter what he does, at six feet three inches tall, Slaf will never exactly be a small player, and he won’t be able to look Martin St-Louis straight in the eye.

Not without a small bench being involved, at the very least.

Anyway. All this to say that the Habs saw Slaf play last year and clearly thought it was a good idea to see him lose some weight. He’s now between 224 and 226 pounds.

So he’s lost between 12 and 14 pounds. And it’s not because his library burned down… #BadBlague

After a summer of eating Mom’s grub (lots of it 🥗) Slafkovsky is slimmer than last year and feeling better than ever. Can’t say the same for some fellow journalists… pic.twitter.com/SXe7nJqmwt

– Marc-André Perreault (@MA_PerreaultTVA) September 11, 2023

As Marc-André Perreault reports, one of the ways Slaf lost that weight was by eating a lot of salad. It’s a sacrifice I didn’t make this summer… but I’m not in the NHL either.

Note that there’s no perfect recipe for what to do with a prospect. A few years ago, the CH asked Jesperi Kotkaniemi to do exactly the opposite at the same age.

He was smaller, I know, but still.

The important thing is that Slaf feels good. After a summer of changing his habits and breathing patterns, for example, here he is in good physical shape.

And, barring a catastrophe, Martin St-Louis will include him in his line-up in October.

Will this make him faster and more agile on the ice? That’s probably the point of the exercise, but I can’t wait to see if he’ll look more like an NHL player on the ice this season.

In gusts

– Good point.

– Ideally, Brendan Gallagher would be on the third line. [BPM Sports]

– News from the CH alumnus.

Romanov’s not fully healed yet 😬🏒 https://t.co/18byMLdW8w

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) September 11, 2023

– It takes opportunities to see players represent their country.

They need to bring back the World Cup of Hockey!

🎧: https://t.co/mRBAGPEKSl
🍎 : https://t.co/L6QTN3zl1T
📺: https://t.co/YNanNXv01f#RawKnucklesPodcast #WorldCupofHockey pic.twitter.com/ToZ1gPlbMa

– The Raw Knuckles Podcast (@RawKnucklesPod) September 11, 2023