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In Hainsight: Slafkovsky on Knuckles’ Podcast |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Yesterday’s edition of Chris “Kuckles” Nilan’s podcast was an hour-long chat between the team first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, Nilan himself and his co-host Tim Stapleton. I particularly enjoy Nilan’s podcast because of its relaxed atmosphere in a way, it reminds me of La Poche Bleue on the French side of the media world.
It wasn’t a ground-breaking interview by any means, but it did allow me to learn a bit more about Slafkovsky. While he’s only 18, he wasn’t leaving home for the first time when he came over to Montreal last Summer, he actually left home and lived on his own from the age of 14 to play hockey at a more competitive level.
Sitting in the stands of the Bell Centre last July, Slafkovsky was hoping to go first but he didn’t go as far as to say that he thought he would, it’s quite obvious that he’s very happy to have been picked first overall now though, he loves Montreal, and it really came across in that interview. Speaking about the draft, Nilan said that he put pressure on Jeff Gorton a bit prior to the draft to know who he’d pick, and Gorton didn’t want to say, but from one Boston guy to another, on the day of the draft, he told him: “We’ve got to get bigger” and that’s how Nilan knew the big Slovak would go first overall.
Like most rookies, Slafkovsky mentioned that he got along great with the other youngsters on the team first and slowly got closer to the veterans as the season went on. While he was dealing with his injury, he spent a lot of time playing video games with his fellow injured teammates although he mentions that at one stage, there were so many injuries that some guys had to sit out. Surprisingly, when asked who’s his funniest teammate he replied: “Sean Monahan” apparently, even though the general consensus in media and fan circles is that Monahan is a bit boring, in the room, he’s hilarious.
Knuckles being Knuckles, he asked the youngster if he was glad that a guy like Arber Xhekaj is on his team to stand up for him when needed and he replied an emphatic “Yes, of course, knowing he’s there for you, you kind of feel like you can do stuff you wouldn’t have done before but now, you know he’s just going to have your back”. Apparently, he bought Xhekaj several dinners this season and not just for standing up for him, but also because he lost a lot of card games.
Even though Slafkovsky admits he was surprised by the speed of the game in North America at first, just like his teammates said, it eventually slowed down for him. Adapting to a new style a play for Slafkovsky is nothing new though, he did have to adapt to the Finish league in the past as well, talking about that he said that wouldn’t have been a good league for Arber, since a fight gives you an automatic 2-game suspension.
Slafkovsky will now be heading home for the Summer, and he plans to spend a maximum of time with his family and friends who he doesn’t get to see often enough during the season. There’s no fixed plan for his return to Montreal just yet but he mentioned it should be something like a month to a month and a half before training camp. I did like the last segment in which Knuckles asked him to pick over two options, Slafkovsky prefers Iphone to android, McDonalds to Burger King, apple juice to orange juice and the question he answered the quickest: Slovakian girls over Montreal girls. This should calm some groupies down, if you have an hour, give a listen to the podcast, the link is right there:
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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