Yes. Most fall birthdays turn 18 their senior year of HS. He was basically a senior in HS playing C in the Big Ten.
Prospect Info: Where would Jiricek rank in the HF Wild prospect rankings?
- Thread starter Digitalbooya
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BagHead
Registered User
He was a very young college freshman. He also regressed offensively (and in usage) last year versus when he was a very young college freshman. By the numbers and trend, there was little reason to rank him higher last summer. You say its insanity that he was ranked there, but there are clear reasons that he was, and there were clear reasons to rank others higher.
I would rank him higher today than I did last summer, but not high. But he's moving up the ranking, and that's good. I'm always open to moving guys around as they earn it (or lose it).
There were clear reasons. But also much more evidence to suggest this was a blip in his development. Reactionary and lazy analysis by a lot of Wild fans here
One season. We’ve been over his freshman year already. He performed well enough for a HS senior. People treat him like a lottery pick. He was never going to score much in the NHL. Not ideal upside for a 1st rounder but still significantly higher value than the guys who were ranked ahead of him (Healey, etc)
Most players did not perform well under Granato for one reason or another. Guys like K’Andre Miller even got worse from one season to the next.
Stramel had no structure as a freshman. His sophomore year he was never given an opportunity to make a difference with the structure Hastings brought. Pasted to the 4th line with the occasional 3rd line appearance. I liked the chances he did create and it always felt like his line was in the offensive zone, but there’s only so much that can be done with limited minutes and non-skill linemates.
Do we get to throw out Healey's freshman year? Who is setting the rules of the game?
Healey being -26 last year is much more concerning than his freshman year.
@MNRube There is a contingent on here that hate or severely discredit Stramel due to circumstance outside of his control (Perrault, his role on the team, played for Wisconsin, etc). Probably best to just ignore those people.
BagHead
Registered User
I don't doubt some here have that motivation. I do, however, think Stramel's lack of production in juniors (never reached point per game, not even for Rosemount High), combined with his struggling start in the NCAA, gave a lot of us pause and caused him to be ranked lowly in this poll.
I want to give him all the credit due for the season he is having, but I need to temper that with his history of lack of production and ask myself "Last year was a year where everything went wrong for him, but is this just a year where everything is going right, instead? Is it repeatable with a different coach and team?" I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love cheering for guys who get crapped on by the fanbase, so I'm firmly in his corner. He has moved up something like 7-8 spots in my personal rankings. If he has another good year next year, he'll move up again because he'll have proved it.
If he wants to be a guy who gets ranked toward the top of a prospect pool, he needs to be a guy who forces his way into the conversation with good play through a reasonable amount of adversity (WI might have been an unreasonable amount), not just when things are going right. So we'll see.
