The Biggest Issue Holding Back Juraj Slafkovsky’s Goal Production

When Juraj Slafkovsky finished the 2023-24 season by scoring his 20th goal of the year, the overall feeling from Montreal Canadiens fans was that the first overall pick from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft had taken a big step forward in a crucial aspect of being an impact forward.

It’s important to remember Slafkovsky was never billed as a goalscorer, and that playmaking is clearly his strong point, but there’s no denying the fact that he has scored only one goal in 16 games this season is an underwhelming result. If the Habs are to one day put together a healthy streak of convincing wins, Slafkovsky will have to contribute more goals to the cause.

To get a better idea of what’s happening with the youngest player in the lineup, we need to delve into his individual results.

Juraj Slafkovsky Statistics (2024-25, 5v5)

Hockey involves an endless list of variables, which makes pinpointing issues a little more difficult than in many other sports.

But there’s one statistic that almost always influences overall production,

As the 21st century poet Lil Jon put it, “Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, everybody.”

There’s more to it than just taking as many shots as possible from anywhre on the ice, but simply put, shooting a lot is a recipe for success in the NHL. And it’s an issue that has plagued Slafkovsky since he entered the league, to the point that his mother texted him to suggest more shots are in order.

Things had improved slightly last year, as Slafkovsky went from taking 5 shots per 60 at 5v5 in his rookie season to 5.6 shots per 60 during his sophomore campaign. It was far from perfect, but it was a step in the right direction.

This year, Slafkovsky is taking 3.97 shots per 60, a clear downtick that has impacted his ability to score goals.

The only regularly used forward in the lineup that takes fewer shots per 60 at 5v5 is Jake Evans, though the difference is negligible (3.96 S/60). Defencemen Jayden Struble (6.16 S/60) Logan Mailloux (5.47 S/60), Justin Barron (5.2 S/60), and Kaiden Guhle (4.29 S/60) have all taken more shots relative to their ice time, while Mike Matheson (3.54 S/60) and Arber Xhekaj are not too far behind (3.23 S/60).

Even if we remove the defencemen from the equation, Slafkovsky’s low shot output is rather evident.

Solving The Juraj Slafkovsky Issue

When it comes to Slafkovsky’s results, it’s clear his playmaking impact has improved by leaps and bounds.

In his first season in the league, Slafkovsky produced 0.14 primary assists per 60. That number increased to 0.5 last year, and has skyrocketed to 1.13 primary assists per 60 during his third season in the NHL. This means he’s currently producing almost 2 points per 60 when we add his secondary assists, good for third overall on the team, behind Suzuki (2.72 P/60) and Caufield (2.2 P/60), which is far from a disappointing result.

Seeing as the consistency in his usage has declined this season, the mere fact that he’s still keeping pace with Caufield is incredibly encouraging, despite his lack of goals. And when we evaluate his underlying numbers relative to most players in the Montreal Canadiens lineup, Slafkovsky rates reasonably well.

His production of individual high-danger chances is slightly lower than it was last year, but not enough to warrant a considerable drop in goals.

If the biggest problem is the lack of shots, then the solution is simple.

Slafkovsky needs to take advantage of every shooting opportunity that is provided to him.

But as we all know, shots can be hard to come by in the NHL. Shot output depends on several factors, including usage, and the intangible that has the greatest impact: confidence.

All Juraj Slafkovsky and Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.