We’re moving on from talking about a divisive defenseman on this draft board to… oh, would you look at that, it’s another divisive defenseman. How’s that for continuity?
Breaking onto the BSH Community Draft Board in the 14th spot is Adam Jiricek — a Czech defender with a famous name (for prospect watchers, at least), and a whole lot of potential, albeit of the raw variety. And what are we to make of that whole package? Let’s dig into it.
Pre-draft rankings
No. 30 by Elite Prospects
No. 18 by Sportsnet
No. 12 by The Athletic (Corey Pronman)
No. 14 by TSN (Bob McKenzie)
Statistics
What’s there to like?
The broadest standout of Jiricek’s game is, in short, the aggressiveness with which he plays. We’ll often see him make the aggressive defensive play — being quick to gap up on an opponent on the rush or to deliver a hit along the boards to dislodge a puck and force a turnover.
And this is really the sum of not just his mentality, but also of some of the smaller, finer points of his game all working well together. That is, first of all, his mobility — while he doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of top-end speed, he’s quick enough, with long strides and very good four-way mobility (indeed, which some pundits argue might be some of the best in this class). And while there’s still some work to do on his skating (others have pointed out that he lacks a bit of short-distance explosiveness, this would well be due in part to his more upright skating stance, as well as a need for a bit more strength, which will come along naturally as he continues to fill out his frame). Along with this, he scans and sees the ice well, and he’s calm and decisive when it comes to starting out breakout plays, while he’s also able to stick handle well and anticipate plays quickly to beat opposing defenders.
Above all, we see him as quite an active player. We see it as he’s quick to make a run at an opponent to break up a chance defensively, but so too do we see it in an offensive sense. He can be quite active in the offensive zone, looking to make a play for himself when activating lower in the zone, but also when he’s left to work higher up at the point, as he’ll often go for an aggressive pinch along the boards to keep a puck in and play alive. And while this type of play certainly does carry some risk, that he goes for it so often shows a real confidence in his play. And hey, by and large, he’s pulling those moves off.
He might not project to be a huge goal scorer in the NHL in his own right, but there are still a few good pieces working in his offensive game which lead us to wonder if there’s some real untapped potential there. He does have a big shot that he likes to break out from the point, but he’s held back by some of his struggles in finding good lanes for those shots. We also see him show a real willingness to activate in the offensive zone, dipping low in the slot and looking for rebounds (we see some of that in the video breakdown below, in particular). And while the individual scoring hasn’t popped for him in a big way, he still does a lot of little things well to support offensive generation, whether that’s through well-times pinches or crisp in-zone passing.
What’s not to like?
This isn’t a critique of Jiricek’s game per se, but rather a useful bit of context (and something that gets brought up often as it relates to him a prospect broadly). There was quite a bit of noise around his brother David a couple of seasons ago, and with the tools that he has available to him he rightfully earned his place in the very top of that prospect group. If a team is hoping to get an exact clone of David Jiricek in his younger brother, though, they would likely be disappointed. This isn’t a knock on the latter, just a management of expectations.
That said, there might well still be some untapped offensive potential in him, but it’s going to take some coaching and development to get it out of him, it isn’t coming completely naturally.
And that’s really the biggest thing — when it comes to Jiricek’s actual play and projection, is that he’s going to be a bit of a project. As we mentioned, he has a lot of good tools available to him, and that all makes for an intriguing package, but it all still needs some polishing out. We like the aggression in his game, how quickly he can get after the puck, or gap up on an opponent, but that quickness to commit to a play can also burn him if it ends up being the wrong move (that is, the first move isn’t always the right one, and a bit more patience in his game might serve him well). Likewise, he can get caught forcing plays, which can then ultimately end up blowing up on him, so on top of sort of polishing out the rawness of some of his tools, so too will he need to work on balancing out the risk management in his game. His aggressiveness is what makes him effective, and we don’t want to see that necessarily decreased, but as is the case with many young defenders of his ilk, he just needs to get a bit smarter about picking his spots.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
Given Jiricek’s status as more of a project-type prospect, we’re inclined to note that this might not be the best fit for the Flyers. Jiricek would certainly bolster their pipeline of defensemen and if he hits his ceiling, he could be a really interesting option for them in a future top-4, but the key there is just that — he would need to hit his ceiling. Jiricek is a player who, one would imagine, would have to do a good bit of his developing before he even gets a sniff at the NHL lineup, and as it stands, we have some questions about the developmental work being done at the AHL level, where he would begin his North American professional career. They’ve found some success in developing the prospects at the high end of the depth chart — the ones who were probably going to flourish at this level no matter what, let’s face it — but with the ones who were going to need some more targeted developmental work, we’ve yet to see the results panning out. The team with the right development group could well get the absolute most out of this player, but as it stands, that might not be the Flyers.
Now, if the team feels more confident in their own developmental infrastructure, then this might be a more secure feeling pick for them, but for now, for us, it’s giving us some pause.
Could the Flyers actually get him?
This is a tough one to get a read on. Based on the spread of where Jiricek has been ranked by scouts and pundits, it’s possible that he could be off the board long before the Flyers make their pick at 12th overall, but it’s also possible that, should he be there for them and they pass, he’ll be on the board a while after their pick still. So, resisting the urge to beleaguer the point, we’ll give this one a strong maybe.
What scouts are saying
He doesn’t have quite the presence his brother has, but Adam plays the game with confidence and intention and has shown real ambition at times against his peers. He’s got good four-way mobility, an active disposition (he has also shown at the pro level that he can simplify and play a more effective game), balanced shooting mechanics, and an eye for spacing and for identifying opportunities to jump on both sides of the puck, plus legit skill with the puck to build upon. There are definitely tools and room to grow his game and fill out his frame. He’s also competitive, I like his defensive habits and he’s got size and ability. I remain a little more cautious in my evaluation of him than most scouts because he feels a little rawer than the defensemen in front of him here to me, though.
Scott Wheeler – The Athletic
Jiricek was one of the best players at the Hlinka Gretzky in the summer. His play in the top Czech league wasn’t as impressive, and then he got injured in the opening game of the world juniors. The knee injury cost him the rest of the season. When healthy, he’s a 6-3 right shot who skates quite well. His skating allows him to make a lot of stops and be strong going back to retrieve pucks. Jiricek uses his big body well and competes for pucks. Offensively he doesn’t stand out, but he has some skill and moves pucks efficiently. It’s hard to tell which version of Jiricek we saw this season is the real one, but it’s probably somewhere in the middle. That Jiricek still looks like a potential big-minutes NHL defenseman.
Corey Pronman – The Athletic
Welcome to the poll…
We’re pivoting away from defensemen with today’s addition to the poll. Let’s add another winger! It’s Igor Chernyshov!
Chernyshov has spent essentially the whole season with Dynamo Moskva in the KHL and hasn’t really looked out of place there. To me, he projects as a talented and creative complimentary offensive piece of the puzzle. Rarely taking low percentage shots, doing a solid job of generating shot assists, and having great transition involvement and solid efficiency rates, he’s a strong profile for a KHL player. His defensive play is more positional and timing-focused rather than intensity-based, but he does fine in that area, breaking cycles an generating offensive zone turnovers at a good rate. I do worry about what role Chernyshov plays in the NHL exactly where he finds huge success, as he lacks a certain level of quickness thanks to a bit of an inefficient skating stride, but he’s a good puck protector at this level and is rarely giving up on his possessions.
Will Scouch, Scouching
