Harry S Deals wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 10:01 am
Brantford coach Jay McKee said earlier this season that Jiricek is the real deal.
Article content
“He’s had frustrations . . . as a player you want to play,” McKee said “For him to be off that long and then get an injury right away, it’s frustrating.
“He’s an incredible hockey player. He has an incredible future ahead of him.”
At the WJHC, Jiricek recorded five assists in seven games to lead all Czechia defencemen in scoring.
“This year I enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“After one year without hockey, the Czech team is an amazing group. I’m always going to remember it.”
Little too early to judge he needs to have a good OHL season next year at 19, dominate then AHL following year and we will have a better grasp
In related news I found this recent quote from coach Oleg Leontiev of club Nizhnekamsk in the KHL
"We love how Nail is performing during pre-season. He has the potential to be the team’s top scorer. And he can become a captain, like any other..."
Harry S Deals wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 10:01 am
Brantford coach Jay McKee said earlier this season that Jiricek is the real deal.
Article content
“He’s had frustrations . . . as a player you want to play,” McKee said “For him to be off that long and then get an injury right away, it’s frustrating.
“He’s an incredible hockey player. He has an incredible future ahead of him.”
At the WJHC, Jiricek recorded five assists in seven games to lead all Czechia defencemen in scoring.
“This year I enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“After one year without hockey, the Czech team is an amazing group. I’m always going to remember it.”
Little too early to judge he needs to have a good OHL season next year at 19, dominate then AHL following year and we will have a better grasp
In related news I found this recent quote from coach Oleg Leontiev of club Nizhnekamsk in the KHL
"We love how Nail is performing during pre-season. He has the potential to be the team’s top scorer. And he can become a captain, like any other..."
Harry S Deals wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 10:01 am
Brantford coach Jay McKee said earlier this season that Jiricek is the real deal.
Article content
“He’s had frustrations . . . as a player you want to play,” McKee said “For him to be off that long and then get an injury right away, it’s frustrating.
“He’s an incredible hockey player. He has an incredible future ahead of him.”
At the WJHC, Jiricek recorded five assists in seven games to lead all Czechia defencemen in scoring.
“This year I enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“After one year without hockey, the Czech team is an amazing group. I’m always going to remember it.”
Little too early to judge he needs to have a good OHL season next year at 19, dominate then AHL following year and we will have a better grasp
In related news I found this recent quote from coach Oleg Leontiev of club Nizhnekamsk in the KHL
"We love how Nail is performing during pre-season. He has the potential to be the team’s top scorer. And he can become a captain, like any other..."
Yes...he's talking about Nail Yakupov
Dmitri Jaskin tore up the KHL. That isn’t really saying much.
As many have pointed out, stupid to write off a guy at 18. He will fill out and add muscle, and guessing he will be better in his second year past the knee injury. Put 20 pounds on the guy and he will hold up quite a bit better. But not sure you can label him injury prone just yet. Look at a guy like Jacob Chychrun…….constantly injured and two different teams traded him. But now he has been injury-free two years in a row and he gets a fat contract extension from Washington.
Harry S Deals wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 10:01 am
Brantford coach Jay McKee said earlier this season that Jiricek is the real deal.
Article content
“He’s had frustrations . . . as a player you want to play,” McKee said “For him to be off that long and then get an injury right away, it’s frustrating.
“He’s an incredible hockey player. He has an incredible future ahead of him.”
At the WJHC, Jiricek recorded five assists in seven games to lead all Czechia defencemen in scoring.
“This year I enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“After one year without hockey, the Czech team is an amazing group. I’m always going to remember it.”
Little too early to judge he needs to have a good OHL season next year at 19, dominate then AHL following year and we will have a better grasp
In related news I found this recent quote from coach Oleg Leontiev of club Nizhnekamsk in the KHL
"We love how Nail is performing during pre-season. He has the potential to be the team’s top scorer. And he can become a captain, like any other..."
Yes...he's talking about Nail Yakupov
So Oleg vs Jay Mckee huh im going to go with Jay McKee's opinion on a defensemen here but to each their own,
Lone_Ranger wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 09:01 am
Disappointing news. We can't afford 1st round flops.
First, this isn't news. Second, if you read the reports on his play it's acknowledged he has talent. He's still a teenager, he turns 19 June 28. Lots and lots of runway left before he would be declared a flop.
The guy has injury issues, his brother has injury issues. It's hard to look past that. There's a trend there that doesn't go away.
So which of his injuries are chronic or are they random?
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
DawgDad wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 10:34 am
It's bewildering how posters will trash the Blues for "giving up" on Dunn, Walman, Mikkola, and others yet they and/or others will declare a #10 overall pick a bust at age 18.
Could not agree more.
And most of them never did support Walman and Mikko when they were here.
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 17:12 pm
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
He's already 6'2" 179 he turns 19 in a few weeks. He'll be a solid draft pick for the franchise he may be the replacement for Parayko or he may be a fixture in the top 4 RHD who knows. Any worry about a "bust" is ridiculous, dumb. Check back when he's 22 my guess is fans will be excited to get him into the lineup
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 17:12 pm
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
He's already 6'2" 179 he turns 19 in a few weeks. He'll be a solid draft pick for the franchise he may be the replacement for Parayko or he may be a fixture in the top 4 RHD who knows. Any worry about a "bust" is ridiculous, dumb. Check back when he's 22 my guess is fans will be excited to get him into the lineup
The concern is far from ridiculous. He has a ton of time to turn it around but there’s really no denying he’s not trending well at the moment.
I think I’m pretty well established here as one of the main people continually saying to give the prospects time. So when I say I’m concerned with Jiricek's development, I’m not just crying wolf. It’s a concern.
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 17:12 pm
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
He's already 6'2" 179 he turns 19 in a few weeks. He'll be a solid draft pick for the franchise he may be the replacement for Parayko or he may be a fixture in the top 4 RHD who knows. Any worry about a "bust" is ridiculous, dumb. Check back when he's 22 my guess is fans will be excited to get him into the lineup
The concern is far from ridiculous. He has a ton of time to turn it around but there’s really no denying he’s not trending well at the moment.
I think I’m pretty well established here as one of the main people continually saying to give the prospects time. So when I say I’m concerned with Jiricek's development, I’m not just crying wolf. It’s a concern.
Are there guys sticking out as better picks already?
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 17:12 pm
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
He's already 6'2" 179 he turns 19 in a few weeks. He'll be a solid draft pick for the franchise he may be the replacement for Parayko or he may be a fixture in the top 4 RHD who knows. Any worry about a "bust" is ridiculous, dumb. Check back when he's 22 my guess is fans will be excited to get him into the lineup
The concern is far from ridiculous. He has a ton of time to turn it around but there’s really no denying he’s not trending well at the moment.
I think I’m pretty well established here as one of the main people continually saying to give the prospects time. So when I say I’m concerned with Jiricek's development, I’m not just crying wolf. It’s a concern.
Are there guys sticking out as better picks already?
That were picked after him? Absolutely. Will it shake out that way 5-10 years from now? Who knows. But there’s definitely players picked after him that had better seasons, project better and who I’d much prefer we had instead.
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 17:12 pm
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
He's already 6'2" 179 he turns 19 in a few weeks. He'll be a solid draft pick for the franchise he may be the replacement for Parayko or he may be a fixture in the top 4 RHD who knows. Any worry about a "bust" is ridiculous, dumb. Check back when he's 22 my guess is fans will be excited to get him into the lineup
The concern is far from ridiculous. He has a ton of time to turn it around but there’s really no denying he’s not trending well at the moment.
I think I’m pretty well established here as one of the main people continually saying to give the prospects time. So when I say I’m concerned with Jiricek's development, I’m not just crying wolf. It’s a concern.
Are there guys sticking out as better picks already?
That were picked after him? Absolutely. Will it shake out that way 5-10 years from now? Who knows. But there’s definitely players picked after him that had better seasons, project better and who I’d much prefer we had instead.
Lol I think Army should cut bait now and trade Jiricek while he can preferably before his 19th birthday is a 5th round pick fair? I mean the prognostications don't look good at all, career 7th-8th dman at best if Army is lucky. Can't believe one of the better amateur dept in the NHL took the bait on this kid. Gosh.
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑09 Jun 2025 17:12 pm
I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote a few days ago on him in another thread. But the short version is it’s too early to call him a bust but he admittedly pretty clearly had a concerning D+1 season after a concerning draft season.
I’m far from calling him a bust but I also want to be honest in my assessment. He didn’t have a good D+1 season after not having a great draft season. It’s not encouraging and is a legit concern.
The kid’s skating and offensive sense are good. And he’s 6’2” and a righty, so there are certainly some aspects of his game that are encouraging. But he’s supposed to have good two-way ability and I see him as lacking on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. He only scored 12 pts in 27 games this season. That’s really not anything special at all, especially given where he was drafted. He just didn’t do much in terms of leading with transition or controlling the blue line in the offensive zone. But his main deficiencies are in his defensive game IMO. His positioning and decision making were both downright bad in the OHL. There’s also the fact he only played 27 games after playing even fewer last season. He suffered 3-5 additional injuries this season, one of them being a pretty obvious concussion (after having one last season too). Could he end up being healthy going forward? Sure, but it’s a massive red flag. If he was a 3rd round pick, I’d say he’s right on track and he looked good and he has some tools that might make him a real impact d-man if he can improve his weaknesses. That’d be fantastic for a 3rd round pick. But we drafted him 16th overall…and by those expectations, he had a bad season IMO.
I really hope he can add another 10+ lbs of muscle this summer and stay healthy this next season. The next 12 months will be huge for his career IMO. We really need him to hit as we could badly use a young top-4 RD to come up through the system in the next few years but I’m also going to call a spade a spade. The Blues took a risk on a d-man that has some good tools but missed most of his draft season with a blown out knee…and so far that risk isn’t looking so great IMO.
He's already 6'2" 179 he turns 19 in a few weeks. He'll be a solid draft pick for the franchise he may be the replacement for Parayko or he may be a fixture in the top 4 RHD who knows. Any worry about a "bust" is ridiculous, dumb. Check back when he's 22 my guess is fans will be excited to get him into the lineup
The concern is far from ridiculous. He has a ton of time to turn it around but there’s really no denying he’s not trending well at the moment.
I think I’m pretty well established here as one of the main people continually saying to give the prospects time. So when I say I’m concerned with Jiricek's development, I’m not just crying wolf. It’s a concern.
Are there guys sticking out as better picks already?
That were picked after him? Absolutely. Will it shake out that way 5-10 years from now? Who knows. But there’s definitely players picked after him that had better seasons, project better and who I’d much prefer we had instead.
Lol I think Army should cut bait now and trade Jiricek while he can preferably before his 19th birthday is a 5th round pick fair? I mean the prognostications don't look good at all, career 7th-8th dman at best if Army is lucky. Can't believe one of the better amateur dept in the NHL took the bait on this kid. Gosh.
