Prospect Info: 16th Overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, Adam Jiricek, RHD

[Celtic Note]

Are there any good videos of Jiricek?

How about our other prospects?

 

[LGB]

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

People are underselling his upside when they refer to him as 2-way top 4 d. He could be much better than that. But folks are also I think underselling the risk with him when they focus on his knee injury. The knee is slight risk, but our doctors presumably signed off on the medicals and this isn't type of injury that typically would significantly negatively impact him going forward. The much bigger risk in my eyes is that he is super raw and missed almost full year of development.

Being further away from NHL makes him a riskier pick than the d selected ahead of him, but I think his upside is every bit as high as a guy such as Dickinson or Silly. I preferred Solberg (or even Emery) because I think they have higher floor (being more physically developed is part of it), but Jiricek has probably more upside as all-situation stud d than any blueliner we have picked since Petro.

The last promising young defender who missed significant developmental time was Perunovich. That never really has worked out.

I think Jiricek is in a better situation to overcome that lost year BECAUSE he's farther away from the NHL. I also think he's simply a higher end player with more talent. Hopefully we'll go 1 for 2 with these guys. I like taking the chance on that pick. Better to have a small chance of a really good player than a pretty good chance of a mediocre player. We can get mediocre guys through various means. Having team control of top end talent is crucial for the economy of a contending roster. I think Jiricek buys us a ticket for that possibility.

 

[542365]

The last promising young defender who missed significant developmental time was Perunovich. That never really has worked out.

I think Jiricek is in a better situation to overcome that lost year BECAUSE he's farther away from the NHL. I also think he's simply a higher end player with more talent. Hopefully we'll go 1 for 2 with these guys. I like taking the chance on that pick. Better to have a small chance of a really good player than a pretty good chance of a mediocre player. We can get mediocre guys through various means. Having team control of top end talent is crucial for the economy of a contending roster. I think Jiricek buys us a ticket for that possibility.

This is my concern/issue with our second round picks and the Lindstein pick last year(though he's done quite well since he's been drafted, still not really a believer just yet). The first couple of rounds are where you find your cornerstone players, your impact players. It feels like our 2 2nds this year and our final 1st last year were spent on guys who, if they make the NHL at all, will be dime a dozen types. It's very easy to find bottom pairing stay at home Dmen. They're not expensive to acquire through trade or free agency. Same for third/fourth line forwards. Ceiling, to me, will always be most important in the early stages of the draft, and I'm concerned that we've gone with too much of a floor focus picking big guys who can skate but lack the puck skills to be true impact players. I don't think Jiricek fits that bill. He really could be a seriously valuable player if he reaches his ceiling, though there is some obvious risk there. The rest of the Dmen we've chosen in the early rounds recently give me that pause.