RD David Jiricek (2022, 6th, CBJ; traded to MIN)

[Juxtaposer]

Power was overrated because of the way his defensive game was hyped up and people acted like he was a two way beast. He's much more of an offensive Dman with some iffy defense

Power will be a two-way beast, it’s only those who act like a 19 year old is a finished product who don’t see that.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

How did his skating look before his injury? I haven't been particularly impressed by it, so I'm wondering if it's related to his injury.

 

[NotProkofievian]

How did his skating look before his injury? I haven't been particularly impressed by it, so I'm wondering if it's related to his injury.

It looked about the same, his skating doesn't seem to have been negatively affected by the injury.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

How did his skating look before his injury? I haven't been particularly impressed by it, so I'm wondering if it's related to his injury.

His skating was enough for Swedes, no need to go faster especially when only guys who were faster were Apslund and Vrana. You dont have to be Makar to be effective defenseman.

 

[Czechboy]

i"m not disagreeing Power is better.. it's a very flattering comparison tbh.

I'll just leave this though... Jiricek has a 1 goal and an assist in 2 games. Power had 3 assists and 0 goals in 10 games last season. Not sure it's that obvious how much better Power was. Curious how many minutes each guy played and how they were deployed.

 

[Juxtaposer]

i"m not disagreeing Power is better.. it's a very flattering comparison tbh.

I'll just leave this though... Jiricek has a 1 goal and an assist in 2 games. Power had 3 assists and 0 goals in 10 games last season. Not sure it's that obvious how much better Power was. Curious how many minutes each guy played and how they were deployed.

Power had almost no ice time in his first two games (like five minutes a piece), but started gradually getting more and more ice time until he was playing 22 minutes a game in high leverage defensive situations. He actually didn’t get a ton of offensive opportunities until much later in the WC.

 

[vildurson]

Power had almost no ice time in his first two games (like five minutes a piece), but started gradually getting more and more ice time until he was playing 22 minutes a game in high leverage defensive situations. He actually didn’t get a ton of offensive opportunities until much later in the WC.

Jiricek didn't play a ton in these two games either. I think he played pretty sheltered minutes and power play from what I saw. Could be wrong though, didn't check time on ice.

 

[tmlmatus]

Jiricek didn't play a ton in these two games either. I think he played pretty sheltered minutes and power play from what I saw. Could be wrong though, didn't check time on ice.

13:40 first game, 15 minutes second game.

 

[Czechboy]

Power had almost no ice time in his first two games

That's how I remember it as well but someone above in the comments was arguing how much better Power was than Jiricek at this tourney at the same age.

One has 2 points in 2 games
Other has 3 points in 10
One got around 27 minutes in his first 2 games
Other got aroudn 10 minutes in first 2 games

Again, I don't disagree Power is better but using this tourney as proof seems a bit of a reach. I still find the comparison flattering as I think Power is and will be better.

Note: You could argue playing for Team Canada's D is a LOT harder than making the Czech D.

 

[Juxtaposer]

That's how I remember it as well but someone above in the comments was arguing how much better Power was than Jiricek at this tourney at the same age.

One has 2 points in 2 games
Other has 3 points in 10
One got around 27 minutes in his first 2 games
Other got aroudn 10 minutes in first 2 games

Again, I don't disagree Power is better but using this tourney as proof seems a bit of a reach. I still find the comparison flattering as I think Power is and will be better.

Note: You could argue playing for Team Canada's D is a LOT harder than making the Czech D.

I literally wasn’t sold on Power as a #1 overall until the WC tournament last year, that’s how good he was by the end of it. Like I said, he came in as the #7 guy due to his age and literally worked his way up the lineup until he was the #1D on the roster. Jiricek has been given lots of ice time so far, because, as you said, it’s easier to make the Czech squad than Team Canada, but also because he already plays against men (Power hadn’t this time last year, so he had to prove he could play against men. before he could be trusted in big minutes; Jiricek has already proved that).

I think you’re using counting stats far too much to compare these two. There really are no stats to describe how good Power was.

 

[Czechboy]

Jiricek has been given lots of ice time so far,

No he hasn't, that's already been proven above. He's been averaging 6th or 7th amongst a D core of 7.

I think you’re using counting stats far too much to compare these two.

I'm not comparing these two. In both my comments I said Power was better and it was a flattering comment.

 

[vildurson]

13:40 first game, 15 minutes second game.

Pretty much matches my impression. Lets see if time keeps going up.

Edit, forgot he had a game today. How was he?

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Pretty much matches my impression. Lets see if time keeps going up.

Edit, forgot he had a game today. How was he?

He was pretty solid in the defensive zone, but didn't do much in the offensive zone. I think he was benched most of the third period when team Czechia tried to protect their lead.

I wrote this to the Devils forum earlier today:

I don't know what to think about Jiricek. It seems that his puck skills and skating aren't particularly good. Maybe this is a hot take and I significantly underestimate him, but he reminds me of a former #3 pick Zach Bogosian. Both are big guys who have pretty similar skating styles. Maybe Jiricek have more skill than Bogosian, but I haven't seen much of that in these few games. The biggest difference for me is that Jiricek is much more agile than Bogosian, who always looks slow and clumsy, and he has also more accurate shot.

I expect that Jiricek will be a better player than Bogosian, but I think they have some similarities in their game.

I have to add that I'm not a prospect expert, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Czechboy]

Pretty much matches my impression. Lets see if time keeps going up.

Edit, forgot he had a game today. How was he?

Under 12 minutes.. he was good in those for the most part. Historic loss definitely not on him. I assume if we were winning and with a bigger lead he would've got more minutes but I am just speculating.

 

[majormajor]

He was pretty solid in the defensive zone, but didn't do much in the offensive zone. I think he was benched most of the third period when team Czechia tried to protect their lead.

I wrote this to the Devils forum earlier today:

I don't know what to think about Jiricek. It seems that his puck skills and skating aren't particularly good. Maybe this is a hot take and I significantly underestimate him, but he reminds me of a former #3 pick Zach Bogosian. Both are big guys who have pretty similar skating styles. Maybe Jiricek have more skill than Bogosian, but I haven't seen much of that in these few games. The biggest difference for me is that Jiricek is much more agile than Bogosian, who always looks slow and clumsy, and he has also more accurate shot.

I expect that Jiricek will be a better player than Bogosian, but I think they have some similarities in their game.

I have to add that I'm not a prospect expert, so take it with a grain of salt.

Jiricek has a great shot - maybe Shea Weber quality - and he can sometimes make moves from the line and break the defensive coverage. His outlet decisions look really good to me too. Yes he looks like Bogosian at times, it's not the best straight ahead skating. But if Zach Bogosian could do all of the things that Jiricek can do then he really would be worth the #3OA.

 

[vildurson]

Real truth about Jiricek is that he is probably gonna be somewhere between Shea Weber and Zach Bogosian(I kinda like those comparisons on low end and high end). If it turns out to be something like that, it ain't really a shame or bad place to be. One guy won cup, one was Norris contender. Both are strong players.

 

[Anardil]

The 2012/13 season was Letang's career peak. Surely the best defender in the league at this time.

Better point average with a large gap and without forcing, better defensive game and systematically aligned against the best offensive trio unlike Subban.

On an NHL game, his value would have been 92. Subban was helped a little by his media coverage.

And Letang was helped by PRIME Crosby and Malkin... Subban had?.... EXACTLY. The Habs haven't had a Crosby/Malkin level skater since Lafleur.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

And Letang was helped by PRIME Crosby and Malkin... Subban had?.... EXACTLY. The Habs haven't had a Crosby/Malkin level skater since Lafleur.

Crosby and Malkin only help for points. But that doesn't explain the level of play. Letang was at his peak. He would have the Conn Smythe if Pittsburgh had won.

It doesn't change the fact that Letang was better than Subban. We had 15 years to see it.

 

[Nabrules]

Cam Robinson mentioned is skating jas looked a lot worse since coming back, particularly his turning.

For those who have watch him since returning, what do you think about this?

Thanks!

 

[ponder]

Cam Robinson mentioned is skating jas looked a lot worse since coming back, particularly his turning.

For those who have watch him since returning, what do you think about this?

Thanks!

“A lot” seems like an exaggeration to me, but yeah, noticeably worse. Not worried though, that’s super common when first coming back from a knee injury, but with committed physio and training, young guys mostly get back to 100%. It’s been less than 5 months since his surgery, while it typically takes hockey players 6-12 months to be fully recovered from an ACL surgery, but they do generally get there.

An injury like this can be a bigger deal with a guy near the end of his career, when recovery is harder, but IMO not too concerning for a young guy. As a Leafs fan Morgan Rielly and Zach Hyman are two guys that spring to mind for ACL surgeries, neither lost a step. Or McDavid had an even worse full PCL tear, ended up doing non-surgical recovery, hasn’t lost a step either. There are also cases like Fabbri or Morin, where the player has numerous knee ligament injuries over the years, with career altering impacts, but they seem more rare.

 

[Voodoozz]

Cam Robinson mentioned is skating jas looked a lot worse since coming back, particularly his turning.

For those who have watch him since returning, what do you think about this?

Thanks!

I don't think that's correct. He's had games since coming back where his skating looked better than ever and he's had some games where it didn't look as good. Could be training fatigue, could be just the WC being a very fast-paced hockey and he needed some adjustment - it was the first time Jiricek had faced this sort of competition, whereas Nemec for instance had already had a chance to play at the last year's WC and the Olympics, big factor if you ask me. In his last game against Finland I thought his skating and overall game looked much cleaner than the first few WC games.

 

[Dough72]

Tampa just won back to back Cups with their 3 LD being Hedman, McDonagh, Sergachev. You can and should want multiple great Dmen.

they didn't spend 9mil a season on McDonagh like NJ did with Hamilton. Whatever NJ's plans they definitely won't spend a 2nd overall pick to help out their 3rd pairing. And I seriously doubt they would draft a guy without planning on him being a regular on their power play. So to make it work they would have to ask Hughs to move to the Left which he might not want to do after the great season he just had, and also dump Hamiliton off the powerplay within a few seasons which will kill his value. Just seems like a really poor use of assets.

 

[kabidjan18]

they didn't spend 9mil a season on McDonagh like NJ did with Hamilton. Whatever NJ's plans they definitely won't spend a 2nd overall pick to help out their 3rd pairing. And I seriously doubt they would draft a guy without planning on him being a regular on their power play. So to make it work they would have to ask Hughs to move to the Left which he might not want to do after the great season he just had, and also dump Hamiliton off the powerplay within a few seasons which will kill his value. Just seems like a really poor use of assets.

No...they spent 7 million. For 7 years until he is 36. And trading for him and one year of JT Miller, they sent over Namestnikov, a first round prospect, a second round prospect, a first round pick and a first/second conditional pick that became a second round pick.

All for a guy in McDonagh who does not play on their powerplay. You invest in defense!

 

[Dough72]

No...they spent 7 million. For 7 years until he is 36. And trading for him and one year of JT Miller, they sent over Namestnikov, a first round prospect, a second round prospect, a first round pick and a first/second conditional pick that became a second round pick.

All for a guy in McDonagh who does not play on their powerplay. You invest in defense!

wow didn't know his contract was that big must have been asleep. I'll chalk that one up to a rare case of a rare team that felt they were one final piece away and circumstances allowed a luxury like that and still stand by my point.

 

[Goldenhands]

Cam Robinson mentioned is skating jas looked a lot worse since coming back, particularly his turning.

For those who have watch him since returning, what do you think about this?

Thanks!

No doubt. Ive been watching him alot this year, huge fan of this kid, but he isnt moving as well as prior injury thats for sure. Im confident it will come back to where it was, but it might take time, ACL is an awful injury for a kid in his draft year, but this kid has what it takes to overcome that.