“Slafkovsky on the Fourth Line”: Antoine Roussel Faces Harsh Criticism

Mathis Therrien
“Slafkovsky on the Fourth Line”: Antoine Roussel Faces Harsh Criticism
Credit: Capture d'écran Twitter

Juraj Slafkovsky has faced a lot of criticism since the start of the season, as he hasn't been performing anywhere near as well as the Slafkovsky we saw last season.

The Slovak winger makes a lot of mistakes, misses passes, and tries fancy plays that go nowhere, all while not producing much.

The start of the season on the second line was tough for Slaf, but now that he's back on the first line, things are slowly getting better and better.

In fact, he had his best game of the season last night with two assists and several nice plays, which is really encouraging for what's to come.

However, it's still not convincing enough for some, as Antoine Roussel stated last night that when Ivan Demidov returns, the player he'd remove from the Habs' top-9 is Juraj Slafkovsky, whom he'd move down to the fourth line.

The other panelists on the show, as well as Renaud Lavoie, reacted strongly against this statement, and the backlash continued on social media with various criticisms of Roussel's comment.

Even Slovak fans mocked this claim.

In short, Antoine Roussel came across poorly with that comment, because even though Slafkovský is having a rough start to the season, it would be completely ridiculous to demote him to the fourth line when he has the talent of a first-line player and scored 30 goals and 73 points last season.

Five points—including one goal—in eight games isn't up to the standard of the Slaf who came out of his shell last season, but it's not terrible or alarming either.

Slafkovsky on the fourth line is therefore clearly not an option when Demidov returns, even though it will be a difficult decision to determine who will be benched.

Personally, I think Josh Anderson will be demoted to the fourth line when Ivan Demidov returns, given that he's currently playing on the second line in Demidov's place, alongside Chris Kreider and Alex Newhook.

Martin St-Louis can't break up his first line, which is finally finding its rhythm, and he certainly can't break up the French-speaking connection on the third line with Zachary Bolduc, Phillip Danault, and Alexandre Texier.

Anderson will therefore most likely find himself on the fourth line with Jake Evans and either Oliver Kapanen or Kirby Dach.

Stay tuned for updates very soon, as Demidov is nearing a return to action.


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