In his native Slovakia, Juraj Slafkovský is already quite a talkative guy. After all, it’s a first overall pick in an NHL draft, a feat that had never been achieved prior to the CH’s pick sleep in 2022.

It obviously inspires young Slovaks, although CH’s hopes still have a long way to go before they become a leading player in North America.

And the fact that he draws so much attention from the public inevitably means that his hockey peers are often questioned about him. He is still the hot topic in the world of Slovak ice hockey.

Today it was Jaroslav Halak who was questioned in connection with Slafkovskýan interview with Tomáš Prokopa journalist for the sports.sk. When asked what he expected sleepHalak answered rather optimistically:

You could see him on the ice, he has a good shot. He’s still young, he’ll be even stronger and faster. I think he will take a big step forward this year and have a very good career. – Yaroslav Halak

In the past, Halak has repeatedly criticized the way Slovakia promotes its young hockey players. On the other hand, he admits he is proud to see an increase in the number of young people in the country being drafted for two years in the first two rounds of the Repechage.

He admits there is still work to be done, but Slafkovský, Simon Nemec, Filip Mesar and Dalibor Dvorsky (among others) could mark the beginning of a new era.

In the same interview, Halak also gives an update on his future: He expects to sign an NHL contract within two weeks and doesn’t rule out that 2023-24 will be his last year in the NHL. He thought he was back at Rangers but they ended up signing Jonathan Quick to replace him.

In the same interview, he also praised Ronald Melanson, who helped him progress a lot before he was signed by the Canadiens. It’s nice to see that he hasn’t forgotten those who helped him advance early in his career.

I don’t know which team will benefit from the goalie’s services (who doesn’t want to be a simple third goalie), but one can guess that he’s waiting to see if the situation of goalies will change in the future NHL over the course of the next few days.

We agree that a transaction with Casey DeSmith could change things for him.

But even if DeSmith leaves Montreal, we agree that it won’t open a door for Halak to return to Montreal. While he predicts a bright future for Slafkovský, all I can say is that I don’t expect the two to ever be teammates in the NHL. That may be the case for the national team, but it’s still too early to consider such a possibility.

Much

– Billie Eilish was gifted a CH jersey during her visit to Montreal last week.

Billie, a week ago today 😍

A week ago today… and we’re still happier than ever

(📸 Benoit Rousseau) pic.twitter.com/pUx0jJbOkU

— Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) August 12, 2023

– Interesting.

– Jessica Pegula reaches the final in Montreal.

– Listen.

– The Jays’ injuries continue to pile up.