He's gonna be a beast defenseman. The tools are basically all upper percentile.
That's insane numbers for a forward in the aHL at that age nevermind what a solid physical Dman he is.1+1 in his last game with Cleveland loss against Utica before juniors, making that 20 points in 19 games in AHL as 18/19 yo.
Yeah, it’s obviously super early to make strong judgements, but I’d lean Jiricek too. Loved his game pre-draft as well, he was my favourite player, but I thought “logically you can’t take him at 1 over Wright/Slaf/Cooley.” But looking back … yeah, if forced to choose, I’d take Jiricek over them, or anyone else in the 2022 draft.If I was picking last year's draft right now, I'd take Jiricek 1st overall. Just a prototype 2-way NHL defenseman.
Exactly, he must skate like Makar otherwise he´s bust.I think Jiricek is going to be a great defenseman, but his skating really needs to improve to live up to his current hype train.
Unpopular opinion, but I just don't think he has the skating ability to be a top 5 defenseman in the NHL. We'll see how much it holds him back, because everything else is there.
Is he likely to get nhl games following the tourney or are they keeping him away from the tank ?
I think Jiricek is going to be a great defenseman, but his skating really needs to improve to live up to his current hype train.
Unpopular opinion, but I just don't think he has the skating ability to be a top 5 defenseman in the NHL. We'll see how much it holds him back, because everything else is there.
Its great for a 19 year old his size. I dunno if he is going to be a top 5 d man though. Lofty expectations. He's a very very good prospect though. My jaw dropped when Philly passed him up. What terrible scouting. Quite clearly a top 5 players in that draft. Going to be a beast.I think Jiricek is going to be a great defenseman, but his skating really needs to improve to live up to his current hype train.
Unpopular opinion, but I just don't think he has the skating ability to be a top 5 defenseman in the NHL. We'll see how much it holds him back, because everything else is there.
I think this is a fair argument. But at the same point I feel that he has good skating fundamentals and, at 19 years old, his skating can easily be expected to improve already over the course of the next calendar year. Like other bigger guys (Burns, Ekblad) his skating should improve naturally with age.I think Jiricek is going to be a great defenseman, but his skating really needs to improve to live up to his current hype train.
Unpopular opinion, but I just don't think he has the skating ability to be a top 5 defenseman in the NHL. We'll see how much it holds him back, because everything else is there.
I think this is a fair argument. But at the same point I feel that he has good skating fundamentals and, at 19 years old, his skating can easily be expected to improve already over the course of the next calendar year. Like other bigger guys (Burns, Ekblad) his skating should improve naturally with age.
And let us not undervalue these other, unique skills he is bringing to the table each game in every league/tournament he has played in this year.
I do agree that the hype train his charging hard right now. But why not? Look at what he is doing.
Because he wasn’t good enough in his draft year. Got hurt for a while too and then didn’t show that well afterwards.Why didn’t he go first overall? all those teams need better scouting staffs
In a redraft? For me Jiricek would be my no. 1 pick. Just a monster on the blue line for Czechia. Columbus has a world beater for sure, if that defense core they've stocked with prospects develops alongside Jiricek they're going to be scary.