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The Canadiens’ Juraj Slafkovsky is becoming a big star in Montreal.

He’s an even bigger star in his home country of Slovakia.

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“I love our fans,” Slafkovsky said about Montreal fans when he met with the media after the Canadiens’ season ended last month. “They’re great. I don’t have any problem taking pictures or anything. I feel like it hasn’t been crazy.”

Then he added: “You guys should come to Slovakia if you want to see how it’s crazy.”

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We’re seeing some of that now with Slafkovsky playing for Slovakia at the IIHF World Championship in Ostrava, Czechia.

Ostrava is about 350 kilometres from Slafkovsky’s hometown of Kosice and Slovakian fans have been making the trip to watch him play. Videos on social media have shown several fans arriving at games wearing Slafkovsky’s No. 20 Slovakian sweater.

Szymon Szemberg, who is managing director of the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs, posted one of the videos on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: “Every Slovak is a Slafkovský #20. Reminds me of ‘The Hockey Sweater’ where every kid was Rocket #9.”

Szemberg was referring to Roch Carrier’s classic book about the tribulations of a young boy growing up in rural Quebec when he mistakenly receives a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater as a gift instead of a Canadiens sweater with Maurice Richard’s No. 9 on the back.

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If Slafkovsky’s career continues to progress like it did this season, someone will certainly write a book one day about him in a No. 20 Canadiens sweater. The 20-year-old posted 20-30-50 totals while playing in all 82 games this season.

For now, Slafkovsky’s focus is on the world championship. He has three assists in Slovakia’s first three games, but was held off the scoresheet in Monday’s 5-4 overtime win over Team USA. Slovakia has a 2-1-0 record and will play Poland on Wednesday (2 p.m., TSN4, RDS2).

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Peter Franko lives in Slafkovsky’s hometown of Kosice. He is a big Slafkovsky fan and during the NHL season reads everything he can find about him on the internet. Franko emails me from time to time with links to stories about Slafkovsky in Slovakia and has been doing it during the world championship.

“There is a lot of pressure on him with regard to the world championship in Czechia,” Franko wrote in a recent email. “But they say that in Montreal there is a higher pressure (media). The whole nation here relies on him. They love him. They are crazy about him. They expect him to be one of the leaders of the Slovak team. We will see. … It will not be easy for Juraj, but he has a good school/training about pressure from Montreal.”

Franko sent me a link to one story from Sport.sk in Slovakia that had former NHL star Jaromir Jagr, who is from the Czech Republic, talking about Slafkovsky playing in Montreal. Franko translated Jagr’s comments.

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“It was different for me,” said Jagr, the No. 5 overall pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 1990 NHL Draft. “I was drafted from the fifth place, but I started on the fourth line. We had a lot of great players on the team that I could learn from.

“I don’t think that Montreal has such hockey players,” added Jagr, who won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992 on a team led by Mario Lemieux. “The worst thing is when you are one of the best there from the start. Then from whom you can learn? It’s like coming to school and there’s no teacher.”

Franko disagrees with Jagr’s comments, writing: “He was lucky because he came to team of great players. It is not then difficult to win the Stanley Cup. But to build a new team from scratch is art. Or to rebuild the team, it is not easy. Slaf has space to learn. He has a good coach, teammates, etc.”

I agree with Franko.

Here’s what Slafkovsky had to say about Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis at the end of the season: “We all love him. He’s just, I would say, too smart with all his ideas and everything. It’s just great to see someone who’s looking at the game that way. It’s great to have someone like that, a coach teaching you ideas every day. I feel like all the systems we play, I think we’ll figure it out even better and can really compete with anyone. I think that’s what we proved to ourselves this year.”

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And here’s what Slafkovsky had to say about linemate Nick Suzuki: “He’s captain and he’s a great guy. Just talking to him, he’s always so calm and patient. Just to be around someone like that helps a lot, for sure.”

Former Canadien Tomas Tatar is captain of the Slovakian team at the world championship.

“I really believe in our group,” Tatar told mon ami Luc Gélinas of RDS, who is covering the tournament in Czechia. “We have a great team. When we’re playing hard we can beat anyone.”

Slovakians and Canadiens fans will be watching closely.

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