Raw and, at times, awkward, but he did a lot of good things when he had the puck, passes and shots. More than I've seen from a Wild defenseman in a long time, he would make pinches that would require forwards to cover for him going the other way, but it never really bit us, and apart from that he wasn't really a liability. He's definitely aggressive, which is refreshing. And he's surprisingly strong too. If he can keep filling out his frame he'll be a physical force at the very least.
I think this was a good observation/point that was made:
If they can figure out how to make all those long limbs coordinate together and be better in short areas, everything else will come together.
Some other comments from other people during the game:
Jiricek is an awkward skater, but he's really smooth with the puck. His game has grown on me the more I've watched him. I actually like aggressiveness like him where he fills deep into the offensive zone and I think we have the system and players around him generally to fill his spot when he goes deep into the offensive zone. I can see though how he gets into trouble with his positioning and aggressiveness and how because of his size he's a little top heavy when he's moving laterally. He does seem to kind of make it work and to me it's not really that he can't get to the places he needs to get to on the ice he's just not that smooth. I think that leads to him being a little bit not positionally sound but his reach and frame probably will make up for that.
Extremely unpolished but offers something super unique - a booming shot and a big dman willing to make offensive risky pinches. Obviously needs to iron it out and make choose better moments but at least its interesting to see if that can be developed and rounded out.
I honestly think the reason there are so many mixed reviews on his skating is because his movement around the ice looks really awkward, but at the same time, it's functional, it works for the most part.
There were also a couple times where I did question if the hockey sense is there. Some moments where he seemed to lose track of the puck to focus on his man, also some moments where it looked like he was thinking about where he needed to be in the D zone, rather than just instinctually knowing.
But overall a solid game from him for where he's at currently.
isn’t very good at it, I’m thinking English isn’t his native language
