As the rebuild in Columbus continues to crawl along, we all hope to see the young players have success. Especially those who are expected to be part of the future core. Unfortunately, one of the most important pieces of this rebuild - 2022 sixth overall selection David Jiricek - seems to have stagnated in his development. His situation with the Blue Jackets may be nearing a crucial decision.
This wasn't a player that I ever saw having development issues. In fact, when the Blue Jackets picked him, I thought they had possibly landed the best player in the entire draft. He'd spent most of his draft year sitting out with a knee injury, which seemed a bit of good fortune for the team at the time. I couldn't believe he'd fallen to sixth overall. Had he stayed healthy, he would have probably been off the board.
The pick looked even better when Jiricek burst onto the AHL scene that next fall. He played 55 games for the Cleveland Monsters, scoring 6 goals and 38 points in the process. These are numbers rarely achieved by rookie defensemen in that league, and David did it in his 19 year old season - when most of his peers were still playing junior hockey. At that time, it seemed like he would be able to step into the NHL and contribute very soon. But here we are, two years later, and that hasn't happened.
David has seen his stock fall since his first professional season...
In his second season in North America, Jiricek saw quite a bit of NHL time. He had some good moments, but for the most part, he clearly needed more seasoning. In 43 games, he posted a modest 10 points (one goal) and 22 penalty minutes, before being sent back to Cleveland. He went down with the wrong attitude, and his play reflected that.
In 29 games with the Monsters last season, he was still productive offensively; scoring 7 goals and 19 points. But, his two-way game was clearly lacking, evidenced by his -16 rating. For a guy who was putting up a lot of points, this was a bit alarming. That's a lot of goals against, to offset any good he was doing.
With that said, he did play much better for the Monsters in their playoff run, even taking over at key moments in big games. He scored 3 goals and 11 points in 14 AHL playoff games, while carrying a +3 rating. The hope was that he would be able to springboard that strong finish into a competitive training camp, and win a job with the Blue Jackets this season.
Yet 14 games into the Blue Jackets season, David Jiricek has gotten into the lineup only 5 times. He simply hasn't been good enough, and the opportunity is there on a team who is down to just one right-hand shooting regular. They felt such a need that they picked up Dante Fabbro off of waivers over the weekend. What does that mean for Jiricek? Let's look at the paths this story may follow on the next slide.