David Jiricek, one of the leagues top right-handed defensive prospects, has struggled this season with consistently staying in the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup. He made the team out of training camp this season, and then didn’t play until the fifth game of the season. While Jiricek is still only 21 years old and stood his ground in the AHL over the past three seasons, the coaching staff has had trust issues with the defensive side of his game. Jiricek has struggled with neutral zone coverage and decision making, often forgetting his assigned coverage and prematurely jumping into the play, leading to dangerous scoring chances against.
On Nov. 11th, the Blue Jackets picked up Dante Fabbro off waivers and inserted him into their second defensive pairing. This move signified the Blue Jackets’ short-term decision that they believe Jiricek isn’t NHL ready. He is a defensive liability, and the Blue Jackets management has decided to listen to trade offers for the 6’4 right-handed defensive prospect.
Columbus has stated they would prefer a single young player/prospect coming back in a Jiricek trade. Many NHL analysts have made parallels to the McGroarty-Yager deal made over the summer where Pittsburgh and Winnipeg swapped top prospects. The Gauthier-Drysdale deal also comes up, where Anaheim and Philadelphia swapped top prospects. These deals become more similar as they both stemmed from a prospect being unhappy with the situation: McGroarty wanting an easier path to the NHL and Gauthier frustrated Flyers’ management for not signing him to an NHL contract after one season in the NCAA. Jiricek is similarly frustrated with his current situation and could benefit from a change of scenery.
Columbus is a rebuilding team currently on the up swing, they’ve drafted top prospects such as Adam Fantilli, Cayden Lindstrom, Denton Mateychuk, and several other high-end players. These prospects will start to fill out their lineup over the next few seasons as the Blue Jackets become a competitive team. While the Blue Jackets have one of the higher-end prospect pipelines in the league, there are a few areas which could be improved.
Ironically, the Blue Jackets right defense prospective depth chart is lacking. Behind Jiricek, there isn’t much top-four potential with Corson Ceulemans struggling offensively in the AHL as an offensive defensemen and Charlie Elick projected as top-four penalty killer with little offensive upside in the NHL. The Blue Jackets could certainly use added depth in the pipeline at this position.
They are also lacking high-end winger upside. There are several young players playing in the NHL this season for Columbus who have middle-six forward potential with names like Cole Sillinger, Kent Johnson, and Kirill Marchenko. These players all have the ability to be important players for the Blue Jackets as they enter into a competitive era but only Johnson truly has the offensive upside to drive their own line.
Frank Seravalli, President of Hockey Content at the Daily Faceoff, has reported that there are several teams interested in acquiring David Jiricek including the Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers, and the Anaheim Ducks. These teams all have the assets to make a Jiricek trade but further analysis is needed to determine the true suitors.
Firstly, the Flyers have a need for defense with only Jamie Drysdale and Oliver Bonk as high-end long-term options on the right-side. However, there isn’t much trade potential going back to Columbus. Their single-player offensive trade options are limited at Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchenko. Michkov will not be traded as his upside comparable is Nikita Kucherov. He’s also performed at the NHL level in his rookie season with 17 points in 21 games. The Flyers will just not be able to let that upside be traded for a potential top-line defenseman.
Jett Luchenko is also unavailable due to coach John Tortorella being a supporter of his game. Luchenko made the Flyers this season out of training camp and played four games before being sent back to the OHL to finish his season. He’s regarded for his high-motor and his commitment to a two-way game, both attributes that Tortorella moulds his teams into. On the defensive side, there are limited right-handed options that would be suitable for a trade. Oliver Bonk is also spoken-of highly by Tortorella and the Flyer’s look committed to his development into a top-four defensive defenseman with some offensive ability. While it’s possible the Flyers make a trade for Jiricek, I don’t see it as a true option right now.
The Nashville Predators have struggled this season after signing several big-name free agents last offseason. A main issue for them is their right-side defense with little in the pipeline and even less at the NHL level. Their NHL right-sided defense right now consists of Luke Schenn, Alex Carrier and Nick Blankenberg, none of which have the ability to play serious minutes on a contending team. They’re right-sided defensive pipeline is also lacking with Ryan Ufko being the only player with top-four potential. David Jiricek will be able to have a fresh start in Nashville without much internal competition.
The predators have some interesting trade chips in Matthew Wood and Joakim Kemell. Wood is a 6’3 power forward playing for the University of Minnesota and has 18 points in 14 games this season. He’s known for his goal-scoring ability and soft hands around the net which allow him to score goals in a variety of ways. His playmaking this season has also improved, providing an assist per game. Wood’s only slight is his mobility; however, NHL scouts project his skating to be average at the NHL level. He has 30-goal, 70-point potential and would be a great add for the Blue Jackets who have lacked a natural goal scorer the past few seasons.
Joakim Kemell is another player who the Blue Jackets would be interested in. Kemell is 20 years old and currently playing for the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL. He has 11 points in 15 games played this season. Kemell, like Wood, is a natural goal scorer possessing a powerful, deceptive release. His playmaking is underrated, with quick hands, and he’s able to make plays in tight areas to set up his teammates. Kemell also plays an aggressive game, showing a willingness to forecheck and backcheck hard to win puck battles. His areas of improvements include skating and getting stronger, both things that are achievable with the right coaching. According to a scouting report by Ben Kerr of lastwordonsports.com, his stylistic comparable is Patrick Laine. Kemell has the offensive game to be a first-line goal scoring winger if he reaches his ceiling and the Blue Jackets would be very interested if his name came up in trade talks.
The redundancy and similarity of Wood and Kemell could make Nashville more willing to make a trade for Jiricek. With little-to-no long-term upside on the right-side defense for the Predators, you’d have to think they’d be very motivated to acquire a player like David Jiricek.
The Edmonton Oilers, like the Predators have very little both in the NHL and their prospect pipeline for right-handed defenseman, other than Evan Bouchard. To keep their contention window open and not rely on trade-deadline pickups each year, trading for David Jiricek could be a very smart move.
Now the Oilers prospect pipeline overall is very lackluster, with only centermen Matthew Savoie having the potential right now to become a top line player. I see Savoie as the only realistic trade option for Jiricek. At 20 years old, Savoie was acquired by the Oilers last offseason and is an important piece for the future of the Oilers. As a junior player, he lit up the WHL with 263 points in 183 games played and is currently playing for the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL. Savoie is second on the team in points with 10 in 17 games played. He’s an offensive dynamo, able to create opportunities for his teammates and put pucks in the back of the net. His skating is world class, creating power through the neutral zone with the constant use of crossovers, like McDavid. However, like a lot of young players, he lacks both size and an NHL-level defensive IQ. As previously mentioned, these are attributes than can be gained he grows and learns the game at the professional level. Savoie has the offensive ability to drive his own line and will likely switch to play the wing at the NHL level due to his size and defensive deficiencies.
The Blue Jackets would absolutely be interested in Savoie coming back in a Jiricek trade. The only question obviously is whether the Oilers see enough value in Jiricek to send Savoie the other way. I think in a vacuum, player for player, Savoie for Jiricek is a fair trade. The Oilers probably don’t see it that way since they only just acquired Savoie this past offseason and Savoie is from Edmonton. Trading him away could lead to a bad reputation for the new management group as they “aren’t doing right by their players”. That said, Edmonton and Columbus would both be highly motivated and I have no doubt Edmonton has called about the asking price for Jiricek.
Next up on the interested teams list is the Minnesota Wild, a strong NHL team this season, with a sneakily strong prospect pool. The Wild are a defensive team with a strong right-side defense consisting of Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber. With Spurgeon aging, the Wild may look to add future help in that area. Their prospect pool features high-upside players at all positions except right-defense. As well, the surplus of forward prospects could make the Wild feel more comfortable making a risky trade for Jiricek. Their forward prospects consist of a handful of skilled NHL-potential players with varying levels of risk including Liam Ohgren, Riley Heidt, Marat Khusnidinov and Danila Yurov. The most interesting of the bunch is Yurov, an intelligent 20-year old two-way right winger. His floor is high, with good skating and a high hockey IQ being the best indicator of that, allowing him to be a safe bet to project as a top-nine forward in the NHL. He’s defensively responsible and can cause turnovers through both smart stick checking and outworking the opponent. His offensive game including his stick handling and shot selection need improvement, however his transitional offense will allow him to continue to put up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wrote this much and Jiricek was traded the next day for the complete opposite of what I predicted. I guess that NHL GMs didn’t want to give up any of their star prospects for a risk like Jiricek and understandably so. Future articles won't be so dense, this got out of hand
Add comment
Comments