David Jiříček was supposed to be the next great Blue Jackets defensive prospect and was considered a steal at pick #6. But two years later, many are wondering what is going on with the young Czech defender.
When Don Waddell traded Patrik Laine to the Montreal Canadiens for another young defenseman in Jordan Harris and signed longtime NHLer Jack Johnson, the writing seemed to be on the wall for what would happen to Jiříček this season, or so we thought. If you have listened to Waddell speak over the last few months, he’s made it very clear that he likes the young players, especially defensemen to cook in the AHL before being thrown to the NHL wolves. So it was off to the AHL for him.
David Jiříček has 84 games of experience in the AHL over the last two seasons. He’s scored 13 goals and totaled 57 points, but is a minus-27. The talk about Jiříček is his development though. Many believe his skating isn’t where it needs to be to be an elite NHL defenseman, which is something that can definitely be fixed. Remember, he won’t be 21 until later this month, so he’s still really green.
People who follow the team thought that this year would be the year that young Jiříček would step in and start to develop under a new coach and new GM, but so far, that hasn’t happened.
Jiříček has played in three games this year. In those three games, he’s averaging 13:37 TOI and has one assist. He’s totaled two shots on goals, two PIM, and is a minus-1. In his last game, against Washington this past Saturday, he played 17:05.
So why hasn’t David Jiříček been sent to the AHL? Many believe that after the drama that swirled around him last season with all the ups and downs from Columbus to Cleveland, Waddell is being forced to keep him in Columbus or take the chance of losing him. Would Waddell actually let that happen?
Should the Blue Jackets just send him down so he can play and risk it? Should he just continue to play him every 4th or 5th game? Something has to give soon I would imagine.
Would they entertain trading David Jiříček? If you take a look at the Jackets defensive prospect pool, it’s not very deep. Denton Mateychuk is playing in Cleveland, getting himself ready for his inevitable NHL debut sometime this season. Stanislav Svozil and Corson Ceulemans are playing lots of games in Cleveland, but don’t seem ready for the NHL. The other defenders in Cleveland are not projected to be stars.
When you look at who they’ve drafted in the last two drafts, it gets a little brighter. Luca Marrelli is lighting up the OHL this year and should turn pro after this season. Luke Ashton, Tanner Hendricks, and Charlie Elick are a couple of years away, but look to make a big impact as well.
The Columbus Blue Jackets need to find a solution for the David Jiříček situation soon. I guess that the answer to that problem will come if and when they decide to trade Ivan Provorov, who is a UFA after this season. Jack Johnson is also a UFA and could probably fetch a late-round pick and help bolster a Stanley Cup-contending team. Jake Christiansen is a Group-6 UFA at the end of this season as well. But will the Jiříček camp want to wait that long for him to play games? These types of moves would probably happen later in the year.
The simple answer is that David Jiříček needs to be playing, and if he doesn’t want to play in the AHL, that’s a major problem for him and the team.
What’s Next – The Blue Jackets are off on their first extended road trip of the year. Their first stop will be San Jose to take on the Sharks on Tuesday.
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