Don’t be surprised if Columbus takes on a younger veteran and a lessor prospect, instead of something like we seen between Philly and Anaheim.
Are you referencing Lombardi?
Lombardi isn’t anyone’s normal 4th round re-entry type player, drafted days after turning 19. Every scout knows his story now, and he’s looked at no differently than top 50 picks from both the 21’ and 22’ drafts.
He’s certainly outperformed many of them since, and every scout and NHL manager knows exactly who he is today, when most never heard of him at 17-18 years old. He went from having no major junior experience, and not playing in his 17-18 year old draft year, to being drafted just as he turned 19, to earning his NHL contract only months later (during his 100+ point OHL season), to already being a PPG player in the AHL at 21… He’s not scoring garbage goals either. He’s scoring NHL caliber goals and creating offense as well as any other prospects his age. He won’t turn 22 until next summer. So he’s well on his way now.
There’s also every chance, Detroit wants nothing to do with trading Amadeus Lombardi, and there’s a whole lot of NHL managers who’d pay a nice price to land him, as he’s doing all of this playing C as well. Not an easy thing to do, when it would be so easy to throw him on a wing and watch his stats go crazy.
As for Detroit and Jiricek?
I’d have bet the house a year ago today, they would’ve traded ASP straight up for him. Detroit liked Jiricek a lot, and Jiri Fischer spent quite a bit of time tracking him. If he had still been available, they likely would’ve drafted him, even though they needed C prospects at the time. He was supposedly the top dman on Jiri Fischer’s board. A player Jiricek reminded a lot of scouts of btw.
Today, I’m not so sure they’d be interested, even though I’ve heard they’d still like more natural offensive ability from their blue line prospects not named ASP… and because of how many prospects they have (trending towards the NHL) on the same timeline, they will be forced to consolidate some of those with trades over the next 12-24 months. Just think those trades will likely be for an established NHL player or two.
So who knows. Maybe they would like to add him into that young Top 4 core with Seider and Edvinsson.
If I’m Columbus and Detroit’s calling, I’m pushing for ASP still, but if that’s not in the cards, I’m demanding I get Wallinder in the deal, with a second piece.. A player who may not have the natural offensive ability of Jiricek, but he has the complete game, and he’s not far away at all. The injury to start his season didn’t help, but he’s come back just as strong, after a great AHL playoff last year, and an impressive training camp. There’s every reason to believe he can end up being a very productive Dman in the NHL, and sooner rather than later.
I still think though, whether it’s a fair comparison or not, it is out there…. that once you go through what Yzerman did with Drouin, you tend to stay away from those types of situations again. Whether that’s fair to Jiricek or not, that is the speculation out there. That they may have finally agreed to trade him, but not until he reported to the AHL.
I’m sure the entire story will come out if he’s traded, and looks like that might be the case.
One name I’ve heard to keep an eye on here would be Seattle’s Ryan Winterton, along with a Ty Nelson or Caden Price. Supposedly teams have been asking about him since training camp, and Seattle would move him in the right deal. If they see Jiricek as a core piece of their future, good bet they’re involved here. While they’d probably rather move Wright, I’d guess Columbus would push for Winterton, if they’re looking for a legit forward prospect who’s very close.
Winterton, like Lombardi, is trending to be a scoring C in the NHL right now. Pretty sure he’s 21 as well. Take him over Shane Wright any day of the week. Lots of Sean Monahan in his game.
A Winterton and Nelson deal, would be pretty similar to a Lombardi and Buium deal. Those aren’t garbage deals at all. Any concerns entering Lombardi or Winterton’s draft year, are long gone….
Both players are just as high-end of prospects as many 1st Rounders from the same drafts. Scouts and managers are very aware of both players.
The Blue Jackets could do much, much worse. Like I said though, if I’m Waddell, I’m trying to get another big, mobile, defensive prospect in the deal. 6’4”-6’5” mobile dmen just don’t grow on trees, and are almost never available. It’s also why Jiricek will still demand a good price here.