Kent Hughes and Canadiens management deny Juraj Slafkovsky's major request
Photo credit: The Winning Habit
A few weeks ago, Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky made an important request to his superiors.
He wanted to represent his country-Slovakia-in the Olympic hockey qualifiers, which begin on August 29.
The decision did not come from head coach Martin St-Louis (contrary to what some were saying), nor did it come from Slovakia, and it certainly did not come from Slafkovsky's camp.
We learned this morning that it came directly from Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens' management.
Kent Hughes Did Not Grant Juraj Slafkovsky Permission to Represent Slovakia in the Olympic Qualification Tournament
This is confirmed in an article that was published directly on the NHL's official website.
And another clearer confirmation:
"Juraj Slafkovsky and
Erik Cernak were not released by their respective NHL teams to join the Slovak national team for the Olympic qualifiers in Bratislava."
- Tomas Prokop
Kent Hughes clearly didn't make any friends in Slovakia with this decision, but it was probably the wisest thing to do given the circumstances and with just a few weeks left before training camp.
Would you have made the same decision? Would you have liked to see Juraj Slafkovsky go to represent Slovakia in just a few days, right before the start of the 2024-2025 NHL season?
Previously on HabsFanatics
POLL |
AOUT 19 | 926 ANSWERS Kent Hughes and Canadiens management deny Juraj Slafkovsky's major request Would you have let Juraj Slafkovsky go to represent Slovakia on August 29th? |
Yes | 496 | 53.6 % |
No | 430 | 46.4 % |
List of polls |