Juraj Slafkovsky hasn’t been performing well enough since returning from the Olympics.

Maxime Truman
Juraj Slafkovsky hasn’t been performing well enough since returning from the Olympics.
Credit: Juraj Slafkovsky doit se lever.

Long live F*ck 10 p.m. games. Especially during the week!

And especially when they're exciting; you can't just turn off your TV and go to bed calm, serene, and peaceful in your head.

However, there are a few Habs players who didn't like yesterday's game—the last one before the trade deadline—and it has nothing to do with the time difference between California and Quebec.

Cole Caufield reminded us that no, today is not Sunday. Because yesterday was clearly not Saturday night…

Caufield, like the captain, finished his night's work with a differential of -3.

Kirby Dach made a series of soft plays and mistakes, making us forget his few good games recently. Alexandre Carrier and Jayden Struble found a way to hurt their team, even though they only played a handful of minutes.

Jakub Dobes may have turned in his worst performance of the season.

But in my opinion, the worst player for the Habs against the Sharks was Juraj Slafkovsky. At times, I wondered who the impostor was who had put on Slafkovsky's #20 jersey in San Jose.

Slaf may have earned an assist on Oliver Kapanen's quick goal early in the game, but he mostly made bad decisions and clearly lacked competitiveness against the Sharks. Marc Denis pointed this out during the broadcast.

The Slovakian giant seems to have reverted to his bad habits from the start of his career since returning from Milan. Especially without the puck…

He doesn't give 100% in far too many 1-on-1 situations, which ends up giving the opponent scoring chances – and then goals. Slafkovsky finished his three post-Olympic games in the minus.

Let's just say he's a far cry from the guy who finished the Olympic tournament fourth in scoring and second in goals. And who was named to the tournament's all-star team!

Martin St. Louis, Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, Geoff Molson, the fans, his teammates… everyone has a right to expect more/better from Juraj Slafkovsky. The team will need him between now and the end of the season if it wants to accomplish more than it did last year.

Slaf can't start collecting Gilberts for “I'm sorry, he has to be better.”

Not when you're getting paid $10 million this season and we know you can give more…

The effort has to come back, and the rest will follow. But you can't skimp on effort and commitment in the best league in the world…

On the Sharks' third goal last night, don't tell me Slafkovsky gave it his all to prevent the enemy from breaking the tie!

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