When Bob McKenzie published his mid-season draft rankings in January, Juraj Slafkovský was fifth on the list that is aggregated from various scouts around the NHL. The winger hadn’t looked particularly impressive while playing in the Finnish Liiga, with a total of four points (1G, 3A) through 20 games at the time the article was published.
Slafkovský’s work at the Junior level showed too much promise for him to slip down the order too far. He had been held pointless just two times in 12 games in the SM-sarja, Finland’s under-20 league, after posting nine points (3G, 6A) in five games at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup leading up to his draft season.