GDT: 2024 Blues Draft Day Thread

[TheDizee]

still have krug and kyrou on our roster. we lost tonight.

 

[Dr Robot]

still have krug and kyrou on our roster. we lost tonight.

If it makes you feel any better, we have 3 more drafts to do something about it.

 

[PJJJP]

So.......buch might be staying or we trade him at the deadline?

 

[stl76]

Like that pick for Edmonton.

 

[Blanick]

still have krug and kyrou on our roster. we lost tonight.

Youre schtick is getting old.

 

[jbron]

Best thing about Jiricek is he is a Dman.
Second best thing about him is that he is a RD.
Third best thing is he is 6'2 with a June 06 birthdate

Worst thing about him was his ACL injury. Risky..... not a safe pick at all.
Second worst thing about him is he lost well over a year in development.
Third worst thing is he he skinny as a rail. He needs to put on major weight and muscle.

Best, middle of the road, he's young and does have talent.
Second best middle of the road his brother is in the NHL. That can't hurt.

It could be worst as the Blues could have selected Connelly or Greentree. Hoping he develops and stays healthy. Here's to a much better round #2.

 

[Blueswin]

I think Philly didn’t want to slide to 16?

I agree! Willing to go down 1 spot not 4.

 

[Blanick]

Best thing about Jiricek is he is a Dman.
Second best thing about him is that he is a RD.
Third best thing is he is 6'2 with a June 06 birthdate

Worst thing about him was his ACL injury. Risky..... not a safe pick at all.
Second worst thing about him is he lost well over a year in development.
Third worst thing is he he skinny as a rail. He needs to put on major weight and muscle.

Best, middle of the road, he's young and does have talent.
Second best middle of the road his brother is in the NHL. That can't hurt.

It could be worst as the Blues could have selected Connelly or Greentree. Hoping he develops and stays healthy. Here's to a much better round #2.

So trying to address your concerns.

First, the ACL injury. You have to trust the Blues medical team did their due diligence. Also, as someone who tore his MCL at 16 it is a lot easier to fully recover when your younger than in your late 20s and 30s with a ton of wear and tear on the body already.

The year in development lost is more of a concern for me which I think it is important for the Blues to work in very close coordination with him on picking the right road. I honestly would prefer if he came over to the CHL like Dvorsky to build confidence quickly off his lost year.

Lastly I made a joke about him needing to eat a sandwich when I saw we drafted him but at 6'2 he is going to fill out as he ages. Do your remember Pietrangelo when we drafted him, kid Petro looked like he would get blown over by a light breeze.

The pick comes with concerns no doubt but of all the players left at 16 I do truly think he has the highest ceiling. Now its all about whether or not he can reach it.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Youre schtick is getting old.

Getting?

 

[SirPaste]

So.......buch might be staying or we trade him at the deadline?

Meh I don’t really think it matters tonight, he could still easily be moved for a prospect or pick next year

 

[SirPaste]

still have krug and kyrou on our roster. we lost to

still have krug and kyrou on our roster. we lost tonight.

So I’ve been gone for several years and recently came back but I remember Dizeee from the old days. Did everyone find out if this was just a bit or is he serious

 

[Dr Robot]

At this point we all need to know. @TheDizee What’s your back story? Tell us about yourself. When did you become a blues/hockey fan?

 

[STL fan in MN]

The top 15 picks was like a worst case scenario IMO. But sounds like the Blues were super high on Jiricek all season and didn’t discount him due to the injury so he likely would’ve been at the top of their board regardless.

He was a risky pick but I will say he’s a potential home run. We’ll just have to see. Prospect Camp should be interesting. I wonder if he’s allowed to skate yet. For our entertainment, I hope they room him with Pekarcik.

 

[sfvega]

The top 15 picks was like a worst case scenario IMO. But sounds like the Blues were super high on Jiricek all season and didn’t discount him due to the injury so he likely would’ve been at the top of their board regardless.

He was a risky pick but I will say he’s a potential home run. We’ll just have to see. Prospect Camp should be interesting. I wonder if he’s allowed to skate yet. For our entertainment, I hope they room him with Pekarcik.

I tried telling ppl that this was a lot like 2021 when we were like "Maybe Sillinger/Coronato/etc" can drop and then they all went relatively in order. The top tier IMO was the top 6 defensemen and the top 7 forwards. Only Luchanko going before Helenius was slightly out of order for me. Solberg was there, but I was lower on him than most. People went a little crazy pushing him up boards as a late riser. Some even had him top 8. But we were always going to be picking in that 2nd tier of talent in MBN, Connelly, Eiserman, Boisvert, etc.

Just a tough spot to be in. We won too many games. Crazy the difference between picking Dickinson, Buium, Helenius and the like came down to a few meaningless games.

 

[sfvega]

So many good D left. I'd love to trade up and grab Badinka, Elick, or Freij but staying put and ending up with another of Brunicke, Pulkkinen, LSW, Kleber, Shuravin, even Mews.

 

[Thallis]

The top 15 picks was like a worst case scenario IMO. But sounds like the Blues were super high on Jiricek all season and didn’t discount him due to the injury so he likely would’ve been at the top of their board regardless.

He was a risky pick but I will say he’s a potential home run. We’ll just have to see. Prospect Camp should be interesting. I wonder if he’s allowed to skate yet. For our entertainment, I hope they room him with Pekarcik.

Is it a potential home run though? Even the best case emphasized his stay at home potential vs any real 2 way defensive capability. Best case scenario does he ever become better than Parayko?

 

[Blueston]

I'm coming around on the pick. It's not who I would have picked (I wanted Solberg), but we keep saying that if we aren't gonna tank we are going to have hard time getting top tier talent. Well, Jiricek is a top tier talent. He came into this year looking like a top 10 pick, but injury and some struggles against men wrecked his season. And he is super thin and needs to physically mature, add 20+ lbs, and find a good skating coach. So he definitely carries risk. But he has intriguing upside.

While I fear he could be the next Runblad, I'd say the next Liljegren seems more likely, but Chayka on ESPN said her model compared him to Brodin and I do think he has better feet than his brother. So young, right shot d, good compete, projectable frame, he makes too many mistakes out there at times but lots of them seem like a talented player testing his limits. He is creative offensively, battles defensively, and once he gains strength not only should his d improve I'd expect his skating can too (better form would help too). I'd say he definitely has top pairing upside but carries much more risk than many of the other d who went tonight. Given how rarely you get a shot at top pair d in draft, the risk feels justified. Even if I still prefer Solberg.

 

[Blueston]

Is it a potential home run though? Even the best case emphasized his stay at home potential vs any real 2 way defensive capability. Best case scenario does he ever become better than Parayko?

Best case, yes. He has offensive skills and creativity that Parayko doesn't. Folks downplay it because he didn't put up points, but he was top guy in his age group in czechia and consistently played up on the national team. He likely won't be as good as Paryko, but i think you are underselling his upside significantly (and downplaying risk).

 

[LetsGoBooze]

moved to pick thread

 

[Beauterham]

But surprised Chernyshov is still on the board. Guess he'll be one of the first ones to hear is name on day 2.

Hoping one of Freij, Elick, Pettersson, Artamonov, Mustard, Stiga, Badinka or Miettinen somehow falls to us at 48 (Chernyshov is not going to happen).

EDIT: so, apparantly the Blues did try to move up to 12, but Philly didn't want to move back to 16 because they were affraid Luchanko would be gone by then. So it wasn't that we didn't offered more than the Wild. Damn... so close and yet so far away to Buium...

EDIT 2: Army about the Texier trade: “We have a lot of picks this year, and we pushed it off until next year,” Armstrong said. “Maybe we find a way to recoup it somewhere down the road.”

That last sentence is a bit weird, as if we have yet some minor trades up our sleeve.

 

[Reality Czech]

So I’ve been gone for several years and recently came back but I remember Dizeee from the old days. Did everyone find out if this was just a bit or is he serious

It's gotta be a schtick. No real human behaves like that.

I like the Jiricek pick. This team has been sorely lacking in Czechs for the past few years.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Forwards Top 60
Cheryshov
Artamonov
Basha
Ritchie
Stiga
Pettersson c
Miettinen c
Ericksson c
Masse
Mustard c
Howe c
Misa c
Jecho
Marques c
Bednarik c

D
Freij LH RD
Badinka RD
Elick RD
Hutson LD
LSW LD
Mews RD
Kviharju LD
Pulkkinen LD
Brunicke RD
Kleber RD
Galvas LD
Muggli LD
Shuravin LD

Other notables ranked lower, Skahan, Zether, Poirer, Gill, Marrelli, Wetsch, Plante, Boilard, Roberts, He, Traff, Ralph

Depending on the route the Blues wish to go, they can come away with 3 solid D, or 2 solid D and a center or a winger who drops.

Lots of speed up front still available. They could still add to their non existent RD pool of prospects with one top 4 on board now.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Everything took so long last night with all the guest announcements that I had to take off just before the Blues pick.

Trading up for one of the Top D-men that falls was exactly the scenario that I had hoped would happen with Buium but it didn't work out. by the sounds of it, there's not much we could've done as Philly didn't want to drop farther. There wasn't a player sitting there at 16 where I would've thought, "Wow, home run," and it's first year I can remember where I couldn't decide who I wanted most if the board broke how it was expected to. Every player had big question marks.

Jiricek is a good pick at 16 because of the ceiling. This is a player who could most certainly outperform several of the defensemen drafted ahead of him. It's going to take time. It comes with a ton of risk, but if we're playing it safe at 16 and drafting a middle 6 C, or a 3-5 D-man it doesn't really move the needle for us. We need impact players and Jiricek has the upside to be a 1-2 that can impact the game.

There's a lot to love about his game. I love how he's always looking to put his stamp on a play. Whether it's jumping up early for a pokecheck, laying a big hit, or starting the rush and driving to the net, you can see flashes of an impact player. Hopefully the knee isn't a lingering issue and we get to see that potential.

On to Day 2...

 

[tfriede2]

Another positive about Jiricek that some view as a negative - the runway he has to put on weight and muscle; he played in top leagues looking like he does; imagine how much better he can get after putting on muscle…just a thought

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

That's a great point. I'm pretty confident in saying that as long as Jiricek's injury concerns don't linger throughout his career, he'll be looked at as one of the Top 5 defensemen in this class when it's all said and done.

There's so much there to be excited about. But physically, can he hold up?