Player Discussion: David Jiricek

[Cheddarcheese]

Well let's assume you get paid 80k a year for your job, if you had two choices, either get a 1m raise now or hone your craft for one more year getting paid 80k and then get a 1m raise, which option would you choose?

Seriously though, that's a big difference in pay and while 80k a year is good money, it doesn't really set you up for the future the way 1m does in case your career ends abruptly. If I were an AHL player I wouldn't want to spend a day longer in that league than I have to - that is if the other option was NHL.

There ways to make more, you see other teams call up players for a day so they receive NHL paycheck

 

[CBJWerenski8]

The Blue Jackets coaching staff would never say this, but it’s clear they don’t have a lot of trust in Jiricek. His ice time in his three previous games went the wrong direction, from 17:05 vs. the Capitals to 9:15 vs. the Sharks and 8:50 vs. the Kings.

In five games, he has zero goals, one assist and a minus-2 rating, while averaging 11:47 per game.

“We have to think about what’s best for (Jiricek) right now,” Waddell said. “Obviously playing 8-10 minutes isn’t ideal. He’s 20 years old, and he still makes a 20-year-old’s mistakes.

“We’ll sit down (later this week) and talk about it, but we’re not going to make any decisions until we get home.”

Jiricek bristled last season when the Blue Jackets sent him to AHL Cleveland, so one can only wonder how he’d handle a demotion one year later.

In fairness, the Jackets have given Jiricek every chance to claim a top-four job on the right side from the beginning of training camp, but he hasn’t grabbed it. It’s possible — not likely, but possible — that Jiricek would prefer playing heavy minutes in the AHL vs. barely playing in the NHL.

Waddell, a veteran GM, isn’t likely to be swayed by how a player or his agent would handle an assignment to the AHL.

Still, it would be preferable to keep the peace with one of the franchise’s top prospects, a player who is projected as a top-pairing defender with a big power-play role. But Jiricek has not bloomed into that player yet in the NHL, only the AHL.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5914578/2024/11/11/blue-jackets-dante-fabbro-nhl/

 

[Seedtype]

Ugh, I just want the kid to be sent down and not have to hear about him until next year at this point. (I don't care how much of this drama is actually real or not, heh)

 

[LJ7]

Cleveland or trade. The franchise nor Jiricek (whether he and his agent acknowledge it or not) do not have time to waste by playing him in a league that he can't hang in. I really like his playstyle and have badly wanted him to work out since we picked him, so I don't want to see him just fail every night in a league he isn't ready for.

 

[rt]

Would y'all be interested in a Lawson Crouse for Jiricek type of deal, or nah?

 

[S1N4TR4]

Would y'all be interested in a Lawson Crouse for Jiricek type of deal, or nah?

I would take crouse for jiricek. but that’s just me.

 

[tunnelvision]

Would y'all be interested in a Lawson Crouse for Jiricek type of deal, or nah?

Probably as much as you would be in a Provorov for But/Simashev/Iginla/Lamoureux+ type of deal.

 

[Aaaarrgghh]

Would y'all be interested in a Lawson Crouse for Jiricek type of deal, or nah?

Unless Jiricek demands a trade, Columbus will just hold on to him. If there would be a trade, I'd think the price would be substantially higher than that. As a potential top-pairing RHD, Jiricek is quite unique in the Blue Jackets prospect pool. Something around a Nemec, Levshunov, Willander+ or Yakemchuk+, I'd say. If we're talking players, I'd think someone like Rasmus Andersson or even Evan Bouchard (CBJ would add, obviously) would have to be included at the moment.

 

[AnonCommentary]

Taking this from Reddit but here’s something.

They talked about him (Jiricek) on 32 Thoughts today, and they are being very careful with their words, but they seem to side with Columbus on this one. It’s long, but here’s some quotes if anyone is interested. My interpretation is “Columbus is trying to do things differently. Their coach has the right to do that. I am seeing positive results - Evason is on the right track here - I have no issue with what he’s doing - That doesn’t change the fact that he wants to play - they’ve come to an impasse here”

“one of the things that I do believe about the Blue Jackets, and I believe some of the veterans have asked about it there too, is they want to tougher and a higher standard, right? And, you know, young kids want to play. They, you know, like you said, he’s 21 years old.

You don’t want to lose him. And you forget that he got hurt the year of his draft, and he probably would have gone even higher. That’s right.

If he hadn’t. So you’ve got a bunch of veterans there asking for a tougher standard. You got Evason who’s a demanding coach, and you’ve got a kid who wants to play, and kids represented by Alan Walsh, who’s no shrinking violet either.”

“And I’ll say, like, I mean, as much as and everything that Columbus has dealt with over the last few months, Elliotte, and though it was a tough trip out west for them over the last little while here, when I was down there for the home opener, like you got a sense that there was like, there is a certain effort and how they go about things, you know, despite results haven’t been where they would want it to be the last few years, that I thought was impressive in how they’re going about approaching things. So when you mention about the veterans kind of having a standard of what they want to see and the coaching staff too, that doesn’t surprise me in the least bit.

I don’t have a problem at all with a coach saying, like, these are my 18 best players or these are my 18 most deserving players, and they deserve to be in the lineup. I have no issue with that. I have no problem with Dean Evason trying to set a standard for the way the Columbus Blue Jackets should prepare and play.”

“I have no issue with that. This is simply just a realization that you come to a fork in the road sometimes with a player, and how is it going to go? And that’s, you know, ultimately the player is going to want to play.”

 

[ViD]

Having him in the press box doing absolutely nothing but agitates him, either play him in the big club or send him to Cleveland by I - 71

 

[LJ7]

Him not being in cleveland leads me to expect he will be traded.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Listening to Don Waddell pregame before the MTL game, he heavily implied Jiricek is going to Cleveland when KJ returns from injury.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857940663855202514

 

[EspenK]

If he is showing less than the D who are playing then woe is us.

 

[Viqsi]

So here's a hypothetical for folks who're already done with Jiricek to consider: what would folks here think of a deal that basically breaks down to Jiricek for Jusse Saros?

Personally, I'd flinch because while I could see it working out, I could also see it being disastrous for both sides. But I'm curious as to what other folks here think. In particular, I'm not sure how popular the notion of If We Just Had Goaltending Everything Would Be Better is around here.

 

[Fred Glover]

So here's a hypothetical for folks who're already done with Jiricek to consider: what would folks here think of a deal that basically breaks down to Jiricek for Jusse Saros?

Personally, I'd flinch because while I could see it working out, I could also see it being disastrous for both sides. But I'm curious as to what other folks here think. In particular, I'm not sure how popular the notion of If We Just Had Goaltending Everything Would Be Better is around here.

It would be better
Exponentially better
In football if you don’t have a quarterback you are sunk
In baseball if you don’t have pitching you suck
You absolutely must have good goaltending to win games
It is the foundation upon which you build your team
And if you have excess you can deal from a position of strength
If you believe Saros is available and that type of foundational piece you do it