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Player Discussion: David Jiricek

Cheddarcheese

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Oct 24, 2023
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Typically, young players show glimpses of potential, but i haven't seen any promising signs from Jiricek that suggest hell develop into a top pair defenseman.
 
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CBJWerenski8

CBJWerenski8

Rest in Peace Johnny
Jun 13, 2009
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Cheddarcheese said:
Typically, young players show glimpses of potential, but i haven't seen any promising signs from Jiricek that suggest hell develop into a top pair defenseman.
Click to expand...
Maybe not top pair, but his offensive upside (especially on the PP) that he’s shown in Cleveland has been great. Maybe his floor is a bottom pairing PPQB.
 
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CBJWerenski8

CBJWerenski8

Rest in Peace Johnny
Jun 13, 2009
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When the Blue Jackets claimed veteran Dante Fabbro, who, like Jiricek, is a right-shot defender, Jiricek’s path to playing time became even more difficult. Monday’s win in Boston was the first time Jiricek has played since Fabbro was claimed.

The Blue Jackets would say they’ve given Jiricek every opportunity to claim a spot in the lineup, but he hasn’t grabbed it. They wouldn’t have claimed Fabbro off waivers or played Provorov out of place on the right side if Jiricek had stated his case.

The other side of the argument is compelling, too, though.

Jiricek spoke openly about his disappointment in being sent to AHL Cleveland last season, but he has declined to express any frustration or disappointment in his role this season. And he has not requested that the Blue Jackets trade him, according to a league source briefed on the matter who is not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Jiricek could argue that playing in only six of the Blue Jackets’ 18 games is no way to find a flow or build confidence, especially when you’re drawing three or four shifts per period. That’s true for even veteran players.

Jiricek has always played on the top pair and chewed up heavy minutes at every stop. When he had that role with AHL Cleveland, coach Trent Vogelhuber and his assistants raved about Jiricek’s play, especially last spring when AHL Cleveland made a run to the league’s conference finals. He was an AHL All-Star as a rookie in 2023.

Under Evason, Jiricek has barely played above the third pair, and not with any regularity. Under all three coaches he’s played for in Columbus — Brad Larsen, Pascal Vincent and now Evason — he has barely sniffed the power play. (Three coaches in three seasons doesn’t help, either, right?)

So where does this go from here? Something has to change, and quickly. Evason is right to set a standard and demand that all players meet it, but the organization can’t allow the development of one of its top prospects to stagnate.

Waddell believes that Jiricek has nothing further to prove from returning to the AHL, and that might be true. But, for a 20-year-old, playing heavy minutes in the world’s second-best league is much better than not playing — or barely playing — in the NHL.

If Jiricek accepts a demotion to Cleveland — he does not need to clear waivers to go to the AHL — he could pair with Denton Mateychuk to form one of the best pairs in the AHL. Mateychuk, who was drafted by Columbus just six spots after Jiricek in 2022, has been one of the league’s top players in the first month.

Waddell is getting trade calls on Jiricek, but has so far resisted all overtures. It’s hard for a GM to give up on a young, right-shot defenseman. Those are the types of moves you could spend the rest of your career regretting.
But a trade would be a better remedy than to continue on the current path much longer. Jiricek isn’t helping the Blue Jackets, and the Blue Jackets aren’t helping his development.

Last Friday, when the Blue Jackets hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arema, Jiricek engaged in a friendly chat with two reporters about the best and worst press boxes across the NHL. That’s where most players watch the game when they’re healthy scratches.

It was an engaging chat, to be sure. But it’s not a good sign that Jiricek is somewhat of an expert on NHL press boxes.
Click to expand...
https://x.com/i/web/status/1859192473269989389
 

Cheddarcheese

Registered User
Oct 24, 2023
397
218
CBJWerenski8 said:
Maybe not top pair, but his offensive upside (especially on the PP) that he’s shown in Cleveland has been great. Maybe his floor is a bottom pairing PPQB.
Click to expand...
i really need to know why hes still in the nhl everyone is screaming to put him in the ahl. what do they see ? are they scared he wont report and they lose all trading lavage ?
 

CoachWithNoTeam

Registered User
Jul 1, 2006
1,549
833
San Diego
He should've been in AHL for all of this season and last season. I can only hope that he's been getting valuable NHL-level coaching and training while he's been up, but it's still a big question for me as to why he has not been there all along. While he was regualrly doing pretty well in Cleveland, he was not dominating the AHL to the extent that he's got nothing left to prove in that league like Portzline said that Waddell believes. I think he had plenty of room for improvement in the AHL playoffs, despite scoring some very important goals in crunch time. There are other aspects of devleopment that arent just minutes, minutes, minutes, but it's hard to tell from back here what's going on.
 
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cbjthrowaway

Registered User
Jul 4, 2020
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CBJWerenski8 said:
https://x.com/i/web/status/1859662838530441284
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this is exactly what i've been saying – although i had my eyes on noah dobson as my big fish (or byram as a more manageable one)

sending him down to the AHL, where he will dominate, will bump up his trade value. then adding to him can land them a major piece.

this report hints that they'd be aiming for a more established player and consolidating pieces, while portzline was talking about a one-for-one type deal (e.g. gauthier-drysdale). both would have wildly different cohorts but here's my best stab at it.


Criteria A: current top six forward, has term left, is somewhat pricy cap-wise, on a non-contending teamCriteria B: Young forward with similar draft pedigree on a team with a strong need for right handed defense
Possible targets:
  • Alex Debrincat
  • Kevin Fiala
  • Jordan Kyrou
  • Drake Batherson
  • Dylan Cozens
Possible targets:
  • Quinton Byfield
  • Jack Quinn
  • Marco Rossi
  • Mason McTavish
  • Shane Wright
 

Napoli

Registered User
Oct 4, 2023
1,103
1,215
Im repeating myself but I don't see the hype. I've never really seen the hype.

He can't skate well enough and I'm not impressed with his IQ. He repeatedly gets burned on pinches.

That's not someone I'm confident to be a high-end player long term.

If following hockey has taught me anything, there are so many high end prospects that get overhyped by every teams fan base that turn in to absolutely nothing long term. A lot of those players have more reasons to be hyped up than Jiricek IMO.

If we want to compare him to our own player Mateychuk, Jiricek hasn't shown 1/5 the promise that Denton has shown at the NHL level.

If you can move him for a real NHL defenseman that will contribute significantly long term, you do that imo. Especially since I have little to no faith Jiricek will amount to much.
 
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Aaaarrgghh

Aaaarrgghh

Registered User
Jul 17, 2022
642
682
cbjthrowaway said:
this is exactly what i've been saying – although i had my eyes on noah dobson as my big fish (or byram as a more manageable one)

sending him down to the AHL, where he will dominate, will bump up his trade value. then adding to him can land them a major piece.

this report hints that they'd be aiming for a more established player and consolidating pieces, while portzline was talking about a one-for-one type deal (e.g. gauthier-drysdale). both would have wildly different cohorts but here's my best stab at it.


Criteria A: current top six forward, has term left, is somewhat pricy cap-wise, on a non-contending teamCriteria B: Young forward with similar draft pedigree on a team with a strong need for right handed defense
Possible targets:
  • Alex Debrincat
  • Kevin Fiala
  • Jordan Kyrou
  • Drake Batherson
  • Dylan Cozens
Possible targets:
  • Quinton Byfield
  • Jack Quinn
  • Marco Rossi
  • Mason McTavish
  • Shane Wright
Click to expand...
Is Elias Pettersson still useless according to Canucks fans?
 
Aaaarrgghh

Aaaarrgghh

Registered User
Jul 17, 2022
642
682
cbjthrowaway said:
oh interesting, looks like you're right.

there's no way they actually pull it off but man that would be fun
Click to expand...
Agreed. Players like Pettersson and Dobson are probably what it would take to make me enthusiastic about a Jiricek+ trade, but they are highly unlikely to occur.

By the way, here is a analytics blog post from the pre-season for those of you who would like to be excited by the thought of Jiricek playing with Mateychuk.
 
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CoachWithNoTeam

Registered User
Jul 1, 2006
1,549
833
San Diego
Honest question, what were Detroit fans saying this time last year about Edvinsson? 3 Years after being drafted 6th overall and having trouble breaking out of the AHL? It feels like a close comp on paper, but I haven't been following Edvinsson as much since he was drafted.
 
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