The young, talented defensemen and 6th overall pick has a lot of pressure on him early in his career.
David Jiricek was taken 6th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and some experts think the Jackets got lucky by getting him. Simon Nemec and Jiricek were expected to be the first two defensemen taken in the draft, but with Nemec going second, that opened the door for the Blue Jackets to get their guy. Had it not been for an injury to Jiricek at the World Juniors, he may have gone second to the New Jersey Devils. Instead, he was taken by the CBJ, and we got to witness him kiss the crest of his Columbus Blue Jackets jersey.
Jiricek made his North American debut in 2022 when he started the season for the Cleveland Monsters. He played in 55 games for the Monsters. He scored 6 goals and had 38 total points and chipped in four powerplay goals. He was named to the AHL all-star team, named Rookie of the Month in December 2022, and was also named to the AHL Top Prospects team after the season.
Jiricek was called up a couple of times during the season due to injuries. First was on October 28th, where he would make his NHL debut against the Boston Bruins, and then two days later he would play again against the New Jersey Devils. He averaged 15 minutes of ice time and failed to register a point.
He would play in Cleveland until April 8th when he was called up again. On that day he would play against the New York Rangers, and then a few days later he played another game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Again, he failed to gain a point but would see his ice time swell to an average of 20:30. Regardless of whether he scored a point, getting valuable NHL experience can’t be discounted for the young Jiricek.
During this summer, the Jackets made a couple of highly publicized moves to bring in Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson. These moves coupled with comments made by GM Jarmo Kekalainen saying that they were in no hurry to bring Jiricek up to Columbus, is fueling the idea, and a popular one, that they do not want to rush Jiricek up. He doesn’t turn 20 until November, so I agree with this plan. Plus, they have all the injured players coming back as well, so staying in Cleveland is the right move.
However, if there’s one thing we know about Kekalainen, it’s that he does things his way. He very well could trade a few guys so that Jiricek can play right away, thus killing the idea of taking it slow with him. But from just listening to comments made by the 10-year GM over the last few months, it sounds like he wants to stick to his plan. With such a highly regarded prospect as Jiricek, it almost feels criminal to just throw him to the wolves.
Whatever happens, the Blue Jackets have a very good player in David Jiricek. He is a piece of the puzzle that both the team and fans can’t wait to see every night in the line-up.
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