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

[Anaheim4ever]

My favorite Dman in this draft and i could see him pushing for top 5 in the draft.

 

[lamini]

My favorite Dman in this draft and i could see him pushing for top 5 in the draft.

That'd make him first Extraliga Dman in top5 since Hamrlik in 1992

 

[DOTS13]

That is some serious speed and skill for a D that size. How has he looked this year defensively?

 

[Voodoozz]

His first two games were a little shaky but since then he's been a stud. His defensive stats might not look so good this year, as he plays on a team that is very offensively oriented and is struggling early in the season.

 

[BuiumSaveUs]

This guy is a freak. Could push Nemec as the best defenseman in the draft imo

 

[wetcoast]

This guy is a freak. Could push Nemec as the best defenseman in the draft imo

Nemec is the best PP QB guy in the draft but Jirijcek projects as probably the biggest MPG all situations guy.

Huge fan of his and great to see 2 great young Dman coming out of both sections of the former Czech region.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I like Jiricek better than Nemec. Both guys are likely first rounders for me, but I think they are over discussed and overrated compared to some of the North American players because they are infrequent level prospects for their countries, and some of these North American kids are only viewed as the next first round defenseman for Canada or America.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

I like Jiricek better than Nemec. Both guys are likely first rounders for me, but I think they are over discussed and overrated compared to some of the North American players because they are infrequent level prospects for their countries, and some of these North American kids are only viewed as the next first round defenseman for Canada or America.

There are no better defenseman in this draft. Both of these guys have superstar potential and are playing top minutes in pro leagues as 17 yo boys.

 

[BuiumSaveUs]

I like Jiricek better than Nemec. Both guys are likely first rounders for me, but I think they are over discussed and overrated compared to some of the North American players because they are infrequent level prospects for their countries, and some of these North American kids are only viewed as the next first round defenseman for Canada or America.

It has more to do with historic production in their respective leagues for the players. The Czech league is a good pro league and Jiricek has 4 point in 5 games as a defenseman after a very solid year in the league last year.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

There are no better defenseman in this draft. Both of these guys have superstar potential and are playing top minutes in pro leagues as 17 yo boys.

While I agree they're the top 2 defenseman right now, it could change at some point given the CHL guys have never played a normal season since being drafted to their leagues. For example, Ty Nelson went 1st overall to north bay and hasn't played a game for them yet.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If all the best players are from Europe, I don’t see the problem with saying so, but it seems like there are almost no Canadian players on any lists and apparently this potentially historic American crop isn’t showing up much either. To me, what I see is the Europeans getting overrated in the early going, and it’s obviously an advantage for guys like Jiricek, Nemec, Slafkovsky, Mesar, Miroshnichenko, Yurov, Lambert, Kemell playing in all these junior tournaments against older competition. It’d be something if they were all dominating and this was a banner year for Europeans, it seems more like these guys have had better scouting windows so far than the North Americans.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Over discussed they may be. Overrated? No

If Clarke did what Nemec did last year as a 16 yo he would be consensus #2 right now

 

[GettingYourMoms]

Over discussed they may be. Overrated? No

If Clarke did what Nemec did last year as a 16 yo he would be consensus #2 right now

Jiricek is brutally underdiscussed compared to Nemec who is playing in inferior league, remember that czech ELH is superior to german DEL and slovak league. This thread is pretty dead for top defenseman of upcoming draft.

 

[BKarchitect]

I think Jiricek certainly seems worthy of all the drooling thus far but sure if you are simply browsing this forum right now - this seems like a Euro-heavy draft in large part due to there actually being gametape and stats to discuss this season. We will see the landscape shift focus to a much broader array of prospects once the North American season start in earnest. And the general perception of the top prospects will come into light - which will be different than the post frequency suggests right now.

Jiricek might very will end up dominating in the Extraliga and be worthy of a top-5 pick with a Seider-esque physical package of size and skill, smarts and toughness, offense and defense. But it’s also way too early to say he and Nemec are definitely the top defenders in the draft. Let’s wait to see when the season gets going for the likes of Chesley, Luneau, Casey, Warren, Mateychuk, etc.

But in the meantime - I love hearing the updates on this guy. He’s definitely worthy of a lot of discussion and it’s exciting to see that the Czechs (and Slovaks) have potential star defensemen developing. I’d like to think in 5 years Jiricek, Hamara and Svozil have seriously upgrade the Czech NT blueline.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Over discussed they may be. Overrated? No

This is highly semantical, but these two words are almost always the same. The larger discussion among most people almost always turns into how those within NHL front offices rate these players. It’s not only fans on this website. I see plenty of discussion from people such as Button, Pronman, Wheeler that I’d attribute the same to.

 

[dryz]

GWG today. Logging huge minutes lately. 20-22 minutes per game.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

This guy is like evil twin of Shea Weber.

 

[Czechboy]

I’d like to think in 5 years Jiricek, Hamara and Svozil have seriously upgrade the Czech NT blueline.

We have a strange bumper crop brewing... haven't had one in awhile but we have a lot of guys that 'might' make it in the NHL in the next 5 years that weren't sexy picks:

Kubicek just left Oil camp and will be the 1D for the Oil Kings
Has will be the 1D for his team in the OHL (Kitchener)
Krutil will be in AHL
Galvas - not sure where he ends up but assuming AHL
Kral is looking to be an injury or 2 away from a callup based on some nice preseason games

Having said that, our last crop didn't make it at all - Musil and Masin. Hajek is in trouble and Zboril is fringe. I was high on Salda as well.

Svozil had a nice camp and should have a real good season in the CHL

Then we still got Hamara who is injured but looks to be quite good.

Then Jiricek who is on a whole other level..

 

[Voodoozz]

The goal from last night.

 

[Voodoozz]

Great PP shot pass from tonight.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

Why the hell is this thread so dead, he is best D of the next draft, this is crazy!

 

[lamini]

0+1 yesterday in Plzen's win over Zlin.

 

[Voodoozz]

Very good game from Jiricek, despite being -2 and not scoring, he was extremely active at both ends of the rink in every period.

Some of his plays (mostly O-zone)

 

[majormajor]

Very good game from Jiricek

He looks amazing out there, like a future #1D in the NHL.

I had been pronouncing his name "yur-uh-chek", but this sounds more like "yee-zee-chek", is that right?

 

[Goodman68]

He looks amazing out there, like a future #1D in the NHL.

I had been pronouncing his name "yur-uh-chek", but this sounds more like "yee-zee-chek", is that right?

Yes, that's how it can be pronounced.