We’re going over a recent article on The Athletic which discusses the long-term potentials of Juraj Slafkovsky and Shane Wright, of the Montreal Canadiens and the Seattle Kraken.
The Athletic: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7036274/2026/02/12/nhl-best-case-worst-case-juraj-slafkovsky-shane-wright/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Habs/comments/1r3flhw/whats_the_future_best_and_worst_case_for_juraj/
SUPPORT the channel with SUPER THANKS! Contributors will be recognized with individualized comments, and my sincerest gratitude. CLICK the “$ THANKS” button to get started!
This video is taking place after the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, and after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 2025 NHL Draft 1st Round went as follows:
1st) New York Islanders, Matthew Schaefer
2nd) San Jose Sharks, Michael Misa
3rd) Chicago Blackhawks, Anton Frondell
4th) Utah Mammoth, Caleb Desnoyers
5th) Nashville Predators, Brady Martin
6th) Philadelphia Flyers, Porter Martone
7th) Boston Bruins, James Hagens
8th) Seattle Kraken, Jake O’Brien
9th) Buffalo Sabres, Radim Mrtka
10th) Anaheim Ducks, Roger McQueen
11th) Pittsburgh Penguins, Benjamin Kindel
12th) Philadelphia Flyers (from New York Rangers via Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins), Jack Nesbitt
13th) Detroit Red Wings, Carter Bear
14th) Columbus Blue Jackets, Jackson Smith
15th) Vancouver Canucks, Braeden Cootes
16th) New York Islanders (from Calgary Flames via Montreal Canadiens), Victor Eklund
17th) New York Islanders (from Montreal Canadiens), Kashawn Aitcheson
18th) Calgary Flames (from New Jersey Devils), Cole Reschny
19th) St. Louis Blues, Justin Carbonneau
20th) Columbus Blue Jackets (from Minnesota Wild), Pyotr Andreyanov
21st) Nashville Predators (from Ottawa Senators), Cameron Reid
22nd) Pittsburgh Penguins (from Colorado Avalanche via Philadelphia Flyers), Bill Zonnon
23rd) Ottawa Senators (from Tampa Bay Lightning via Nashville Predators), Logan Hensler
24th) Pittsburgh Penguins (from Los Angeles Kings), Will Horcoff
25th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Toronto Maple Leafs), Vaclav Nestrasil
26th) Nashville Predators (from Vegas Golden Knights via San Jose Sharks), Ryker Lee
27th) Washington Capitals, Lynden Lakovic
28th) Winnipeg Jets, Sascha Boumedienne
29th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Carolina Hurricanes), Mason West
30th) San Jose Sharks (from Dallas Stars), Joshua Ravensbergen
31st) Los Angeles Kings (from Edmonton Oilers via Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins), Henry Brzustewicz
32nd) Calgary Flames (from Florida Panthers), Cullen Potter
This video is also taking place after 2025 NHL Season, and after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the Finals.
Twitter: @LR99Gaming
Portfolio: http://giopalermo.ca/
Twitch: legorocks99
#NHL #NHLNews #NHLTrade #NHLTrades #NHLTradeRumours #NHLNewsToday #NHLDraft #NHLProspects #GoHabsGo #Canadiens #MontrealCanadiens #Montreal #Habs #CanadiensNews #HabsNews #SEAKraken #Seattle #Kraken #SeattleKraken
Hi. I’m “Gio Palermo”, also known as “legorocks99” (“legorocks99Gaming”, “LR99Gaming”, or “LR99”). I post video game commentaries on YouTube revolving around “hockey”, with a primary focus on “Vancouver Canucks”, “Montreal Canadiens”, “Detroit Red Wings”, and top “NHL prospects” topics. These videos are uploaded with “NHL 26” gameplay in the background. I enjoy making these videos and I hope that you enjoy watching them!
legorocks99 and all its denominations function under “Gio Palermo Media Inc.”
13 Comments
💯💯
The athletic is garbage, not read by many habs fans.
Its only been 4 years and alrdy its not even close. Slafkovsky shows up.
If I was Kent Hughes I would make an offer to acquire Shane. Like, a second round pick. It would certainly motivate Shane and with the team that we have, he would certainly perform better. I would not make him play center, but right wing. I see Shane as a cluster bomb player. Meaning, it might take a little bit of time for him to explode, but he will explode.
Conner garland chosen before Mat Bradley
put wright on mtl 3rd line
Slaf is as good as deluded Shane thinks he is. Shane is a head-case, and thankfully Kent Hughes understood that.
I agree with @patdro that the Athletic is garbage and you have to pay a good penny for it.
recall when Wright was captain of world Jrs and Bedard was on the team. It wasn't even the close in terms of talent of Bedard vs Shane. He hit his ceiling years ago.
Wright sucks. That’s it. Stop making excuses for him. Slaf is a beast already.
This topic is getting a bit old, even for a Habs fan
Thats said, I think, even at the draft, some signs pointed that MTL chose wisely.
Shane Wright’s reaction “the stare down“. Pretty much summed up what type of person Wright was (although immaturity is normal at that age, it just. Seemed entitled to react that way) . Not only did MTL draft the better overall player (not even talking about stats, I would still think the same if the stats were not in favor of Slaf), but I believe the better person as well.
I don’t mean to diss on Wright, he still can be a successful NHL’er. But Slaf is now an untouchable in MTL, vs Wright could probably get traded.
Slaf is still showing progress and I think has not reached his ceiling, and probably will continue to improve until he is about 25 yo. (Not comparing, but considering how Suzuki and Caufield have been improving since their rookie season, Slaf definitely still has room to grow his game).
Canadian players getting granted exceptional status as teens without doing a background check on their mental maturity, seems to be a hit or miss and might need to be studied closer as it can probably put too much pressure or play in the heads of these kids making them think “they have arrived” when they still have years to continue improving. Players like Joe Veleno, Shane Wright seem to fall in that category.
I keep thinking back to the 2023 world juniors when (undrafted 17 yo) Connor Bedard exploded, and Wright was a 19 yo draft +1 player, it made the difference pretty clear that Wright was far from Elite. Heck Even 5th round 19 yo pick Joshua Roy had better stats than Wright (even if he was a draft +2 player), it either made Wright look bad or Roy look good. Now we know it just made Wright look bad.
Work on your breathing.
Wrights better than you say. He has never got more than 12 min of ice time per game. Increase it by 50% and then complain?