Slafkovsky certainly impressed the Canadiens staff on all fronts. The 18-year-old winger is mature beyond his years, both physically, at 6-foot-4, 229 pounds, but also mentally. At his age, most teens are considering moving out of their parents' homes for the first time. Slafkovsky is already four years into that stage of his life, having moved to Finland on his own when he was just 14 years old to continue his hockey career, even handling his own cooking duties -- with an assist from his mother over the phone, of course.
His fearlessness and drive to rise to the occasion have helped him excel at every phase of his career to date, including leading Slovakia to an Olympic bronze medal with seven goals in as many games in Beijing.
"Hockey historians are paying attention to what this guy has managed to achieve at what age", said Bobrov during a pre-Draft scouting meeting at the Renaissance Hotel. "To be at the World Championship at the age of 16 is unprecedented. No one has done that, not even in the '80s and the '70s. And obviously, what he's done on the big stages this year is also pretty much unprecedented. He just has the personality to take the bull by the horns. He wants to own the moment, the situation."
Drafting the imposing winger also opened the door for the Canadiens to focus on smaller players who grabbed their attention in later rounds, as Boucher noted. Players like Filip Mesar (5-foot-10, 26th overall), Lane Hutson (5-foot-8, 62nd overall), Vinzenz Rohrer (5-foot-10, 75th overall), Cedrick Guindon (5-foot-10, 127th overall), and Miguel Tourigny (5-foot-8, 216th overall) offer a combination of speed, skill, and talent that were hard to pass up on at their respective positions.