Elliotte Friedman: Juraj Slafkovsky is the best non-Canadian player at the Olympics.

Marc-Olivier Cook
Elliotte Friedman: Juraj Slafkovsky is the best non-Canadian player at the Olympics.
Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Juraj Slafkovsky is having a tremendous Olympic tournament.

He has racked up six points in his team's first three games and has really helped Slovakia secure its spot in the quarterfinals.

The Canadiens player has been his club's best player since the start of the tournament. And Elliotte Friedman took it a step further. Friedman, who was on the TSN set during the intermission of the Sweden vs. Latvia game, said it out loud: for him, Slaf is the one who stands out the most among all the players who are not part of the Canadian team.

Obviously, we understand that Friedman is referring to Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, and Nathan MacKinnon. But indirectly, the reporter still placed Slaf in the same group as those guys… and that's what's really interesting in the end.

Right now, Slaf is really turning heads at the Olympics.

Seeing Slafkovsky perform so well since the start of the competition must clearly be making the Montreal Canadiens' management smile.

He was on a roll before flying to Milan, and he's in a position to build something really interesting right now. He's gaining confidence, he wants to have the puck on his stick… but more importantly, we're talking about a guy who really seems to want to make a difference on the ice. And in my opinion, that's the most encouraging part of the story. In Montreal, everyone knows how good the kid is. Everyone knows he can make a difference because we've seen him do it in recent weeks in Montreal. But seeing him do it on the international stage is even more special. It's even more rewarding… and it's also good to see that he's starting to earn the respect of those who don't necessarily see him play very often in the National League.


In brief

– The break did Gally good.

— He looked really happy to be there.

— That's crazy.

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