Former Habs’ Ben Chiarot questions Juraj Slafkovsky’s age

It’s been said ever since he was selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens this summer, but Juraj Slafkovsky is going to be big in the NHL.

Entering the Habs’ rookie camp earlier this month, he proved that he is big now, tipping the scales at an impressive 238 pounds — 11 more than his listed weight when he attended the team’s development camp in July.

Slafkovsky checks in at 6’3″ and what’s even more impressive about his stature is that only five NHLers last season — Jamie Oleksiak of the Seattle Kraken, Zdeno Chara of the New York Islanders, Brian Boyle of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Frederik Gauthier of the New Jersey Devils were listed at higher weights than Slafkovsky’s current scale figure. Only Oleksiak and Hedman are under contract for the 2022-23 season.

When Detroit Red Wings defenseman, and former Canadien, Ben Chariot chatted with Habs insider Eric Engels, he couldn’t help but ask if Slafkovsky was really that big. When the weight of the first round pick was confirmed, Chariot questioned Slafkovsky’s age:

“That’s wild. Never seen that. Someone should check his birth certificate.”

We are not saying that Slafkovsky is lying about his age. Years ago, a bombshell was dropped in Canada by Radio-Canada’s Martin Leclerc who reported that several Russian NHL players had lied about their age.Among the players Leclerc named were Alexander Radulov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Alex Ovechkin.

This has been an ongoing topic of discussion around the league. Chariot was probably only joking, but he may have some people wondering now…