Slavakov originally wanted to play hockey as he used to ice skate for survival, not for fun, while growing up in Siberia. Eventually he learned about hockey and from there he fell in love with the sport and wanted to play in North America. His main thing is he wanted a better life for himself. Slavakov grew up poor in the middle of Russia where his dad was a salt miner, and certainly did not live a life of luxury. To him, hockey was that opportunity for him to live the life he always wanted. He was certainly a bit disheartened at the start when he came over and played in equally barren lands called Newfoundland and Edmonton, but once he was given the chance to play for the Japanese national team and explore Japan, and now that he gets to live in San Francisco, Slavakov is seeing the fruits of his labors all pay off towards his life of luxury.