NHL EDGE stats behind Slafkovský's breakout year

NHL.com's fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we look at Juraj Slafkovský’s strong advanced stats in the NHL this season.

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Juraj Slafkovský has carried over the momentum from his breakout season with the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, helping Slovakia upset Finland in the tournament opener.

The 21-year-old had three points (two goals, one assist), including a power-play goal, and four shots on goal against Finland and has now scored nine goals in eight career games for Slovakia at the Olympics. Slafkovský, selected by Montreal with the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, has already reached NHL career highs in goals (21), power-play goals (10) and power-play points (17) in 57 games for the Canadiens this season.

Slafkovský is the only NHL player with at least 20 goals, 100 shots on goal (117), 80 hits (83) and 40 blocks (53) this season. He scored seven goals in seven games for Slovakia to lead the entire 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was also tied for the most points (seven) in that tournament.

Here are three underlying metrics storylines behind Slafkovský's offensive prowess in the NHL this season:

1. Goals by location

Slafkovský is among the NHL forward leaders in both high-danger goals (12; 91st percentile) and midrange goals (six; 88th percentile) this season and also ranks highly in midrange shots on goal (43; 87th percentile).

Slafkovský has already exceeded his totals from last season in both high-danger goals (seven) and midrange goals (five), and his high-danger shooting percentage (30.0) ranks in the 90th percentile at his position. Slafkovský's shot speed has also been a factor in his breakout season; he ranks in the 86th percentile in shot attempts between 80-90 mph this season (17), more than doubling his total from last season (eight; 63rd percentile).

2. Skating speed

Slafkovský has reached a max skating speed of 23.03 mph this NHL season, which ranks in the 87th percentile among forwards. That is his fastest speed burst in any of his first four NHL seasons.

Despite playing in fewer games (57) than last season (79), Slafkovský has already nearly doubled his total of 20-plus mph speed bursts (101; 84th percentile) compared to last season (63; 52nd percentile). The Canadiens, as a team, rank third in the NHL in 20-plus mph speed bursts (1,466).

3. Offensive zone time

Slafkovský, who is anchoring the top line and first power play for Slovakia at the Olympics, has been playing mostly on Montreal’s second line with rookies Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen and also the first power play with elite forwards Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Demidov and defenseman Lane Hutson this season.

Slafkovský has scored 10 power-play goals this season, tied for 10th in the entire NHL and for the team lead with Suzuki; Slafkovský scored five power-play goals all of last season. Slafkovský has also made significant jumps this season in power-play shots on goal, power-play shot attempts, power-play shooting percentage and power-play points compared to last season. Montreal ranks seventh in power-play percentage (23.9) this season after finishing 21st out of 32 teams in the category (20.1) last season.

His uptick with the man-advantage traces back to his strong offensive zone time percentages; he ranks in the 87th percentile among forwards in power-play offensive zone time percentage (61.8) and 84th percentile in the category at all strengths (44.8). Slafkovský, who also ranks highly at his position in total skating distance (158.69 miles; 89th percentile), and the rest of the Canadiens’ deep young core has helped them rank third in the Eastern Conference in points percentage (.632) at the NHL’s break for the Olympics.

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