Article: David Jiricek’s Wild Debut Could Be A Launching Pad For the Rest Of His Season

[Neil Urbanski]

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[mnfaninnc]

Neil, I have to agree with most of your assessment here. I didn't see the part of being too far over his toes and losing the smaller player, but I will say his turning radius is more like a Suburban than a Subaru. When he finally caught the player in the video, he certainly punished him against the boards. 

And, I think that's what I really like about him, he plays a mean game. We need a few mean players. I also suspect he will be sent back down, but I think timeline for bringing him up is sometime in March before the TDL. I'd like a chance to see Lambos, and I really believe that Merrill could be seeing an address change. Dermott cannot be traded, he just has to be let go. But I think I'd take Dermott over Merrill at this point. Merrill simply doesn't have the speed anymore to play against the faster teams...the teams we'll see in the playoffs. 

That's why Lambos' debut is so important. He'll be faster than Merrill, if he can be more of a shutdown, then, it's time for him to slot into the games. I don't know about Chisholm last night, but I saw several mistakes in the prior 2 games. He works well when partnered with Spurgeon (who doesn't) but when he's the better player in the top 4, there are struggles. I like him as a player, but we do need to temper expectations. I do think he could be involved in a deal for Tuch, especially if Lambos checks out.

[Citizen Strife]

Hopefully, Koleslaw being a dick didn't mess up Jiricek.  I think he came back into the game after a while.  I hope that was the case.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Hopefully, Koleslaw being a dick didn't mess up Jiricek.  I think he came back into the game after a while.  I hope that was the case.

He did come back in the game, but surprising that wasn't a penalty. Isn't that the type of dangerous play they want eliminated?

[Will D. Ness]

Jiricek's should fit in as a RHD Bogo replacement quite nicely I think.  He still has a lot of potential to be more than that.  He does lack in the beard dept.

As far as the other defenseman on the ice the last few games:

Chisholm... WTF?  Dude looked stellar this season and was taking strides but has absolutely choked when given this opportunity.  I have to keep reminding myself that the guy is still technically a rookie though.  

Bogo & Jake are not a good pairing.  Both these guys need to be paired with speed.

Merrill has played better this year but still a 7D.  Dermott is below Merrill.  

Bottom line is that we can really see the value of Spurg, Fabes and Brodin and the comprehensive value of this D corp when healthy.  It is the engine that drives this team.

[Sam]

6 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

He did come back in the game, but surprising that wasn't a penalty. Isn't that the type of dangerous play they want eliminated?

Yea I agree, when you’re three feet away from the boards and have your back turned away from the other player and he plows you head first into the wall. It’s sort of like hitting a defenseless player in football. Koldsore is a dirty player though..

[OldDutchChip]

20 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

Jiricek's should fit in as a RHD Bogo replacement quite nicely I think.  He still has a lot of potential to be more than that.  He does lack in the beard dept.

As far as the other defenseman on the ice the last few games:

Chisholm... WTF?  Dude looked stellar this season and was taking strides but has absolutely choked when given this opportunity.  I have to keep reminding myself that the guy is still technically a rookie though.  

Bogo & Jake are not a good pairing.  Both these guys need to be paired with speed.

Merrill has played better this year but still a 7D.  Dermott is below Merrill.  

Bottom line is that we can really see the value of Spurg, Fabes and Brodin and the comprehensive value of this D corp when healthy.  It is the engine that drives this team.

not sure we can pin it on Chissy. he was the only one playing D yesterday (or at least looked professional enough) the others were horrible. Chissy was mostly trying to cover up the mess out there the best he could.  Midds was bad (really bad!!) for two games in a row now. And Jiricek does need some skating lessons or this won't be the last time he ends up kissing the boards.

Need someone from our D core to return soon. 

[MNCountryLife]

Chisholm played about as well as expected.  He continues to get better and just needs more TOI.  I really like how he is improving.  Jiricek clearly lacks  in the skating area but I see why they are high on him.  If we can be patient with him and give him solid ice time  (21yo) he should develop into a beast of a defenseman.   

[mnfaninnc]

50 minutes ago, Sam said:

Yea I agree, when you’re three feet away from the boards and have your back turned away from the other player and he plows you head first into the wall. It’s sort of like hitting a defenseless player in football. Koldsore is a dirty player though..

So, what was done about this if referees don't want to enforce rules?

[mnfaninnc]

57 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

Chisholm... WTF?  Dude looked stellar this season and was taking strides but has absolutely choked when given this opportunity.  I have to keep reminding myself that the guy is still technically a rookie though.  

IMO, Chisholm has hit a plateau. Whether or not he has climbed all the stairs, or just reached a landing to turn for more I cannot say. The thing is that he and Midsy cannot be the most talented defender of a top 4 pairing. Right now they are, and this is not their role. 

Say what you want about Bogosian, he has skated and played hard even though he is well out of his comfort zone. He's simply not a #1 pairing guy. Dermott and Merrill are also simply not 2nd pairing guys. If it were up to me, I'd put Midsy with Jiricek, Chissy with Bogosian (a normal pairing) and Dermott with Merrill. It's a challenge for Jirzy, but, you've got to be ready when opportunity knocks. If we had money, I'd bring up Lambos too, I think he's faster than both Dermott and Merrill and would help. 

[Pewterschmidt]

20 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Jiricek clearly lacks  in the skating area but I see why they are high on him. 

Agree.  Skating is fixable and I like his sandpaper.   This prospects prospects will come down to his dedication to Ness skating lessons over off season

[OldDutchChip]

19 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

So, what was done about this if referees don't want to enforce rules?

nothing much. foligno wrestled with their goon for a bit. very expected. and did nothing. would have liked foligno to do what trenin did and that is to brutally check every player, no matter who. go after stone and karlson and make them pay. just push and push until one of them falls. who cares if koby gets into a scuffle? next time we play them - it be kaprizov or rossi who will be ran into the wall by koby or hague or any other 10 players on Vegas team that play with the same intent and edge. wild will run out of fighters before vegas will ran out of physical players. i'd put trenin with rossi and zuccy for a bit and ask him to do what he did to vegas. clear ice for the two. boldy cannot do that, yet. 

Edited yesterday at 06:24 PM by OldDutchChip

[M_Nels]

42 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

go after stone and karlson and make them pay.

Boldy threw the hit of the game on Stone, absolutely crushed him. Broadcast showed him wincing hard on the bench.

What was cool is that later in the game when him and Boldy were next to each other on the faceoff they must've talking about it and Bolds cracked a bit of a sly smile, think Stone acknowledged the youngster laid the wood on him and it was clean so no BS cheap retribution. 

Edited yesterday at 07:07 PM by M_Nels
Added "must've" because I don't know for sure

[OldDutchChip]

10 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

Boldy threw the hit of the game on Stone, absolutely crushed him. Broadcast showed him wincing hard on the bench.

What was cool is that later in the game when him and Boldy were next to each other on the faceoff they must've talking about it and Bolds cracked a bit of a sly smile, think Stone acknowledged the youngster laid the wood on him and it was clean so no BS cheap retribution. 

This is Boldy's next step of evolution. As soon as he realizes he can be physical and take it to the other team, then he'll start reaching that (superstar) potential and won't go into these lulls. 

Edited yesterday at 07:16 PM by OldDutchChip

[raithis]

6 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

Bogo & Jake are not a good pairing.  Both these guys need to be paired with speed.

+1.  Middleton is so much better when then other half of the ice can be covered by someone who has the wheels to mask his mistakes.  I like Middleton as player, but he needs a defenseman who complements him and gives him the opportunity to cheat up into the offense and can close some of the gaps.

Bogosian is kind of the same.  Again, I like the player, but he needs a complementary defenseman who can cover space.

Part of the reason is that both of them are more likely to take the body and put a hit on someone than the other defenders.  They get out of position and gaps open up as the play shifts in the zone.  But if other players can close those gaps, it works out.

Both of them looked completely gassed at the end of that game.  They tried, but it looked like Vegas saw they were slowing down from having to play more minutes than they were used to and pounced all over them.  They probably would have been okay if it hadn't been the second game of a back-to-back.

[raithis]

4 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

This is Boldy's next step of evolution. As soon as he realizes he can be physical and take it to the other team, then he'll start reaching that (superstar) potential and won't go into these lulls. 

Stop making sense!

Again I totally agree with you here.  Boldy has the hands and skill to work in traffic.  I'd really love to see him find his inner power forward and take it to the net more.  He probably needs to hit the weight room a bit to have the strength and confidence to impose his will on the other team.  Those snipes are fun, but he really shines offensively when he's in motion pushing toward the net.

[1Brotherbill]

12 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

He did come back in the game, but surprising that wasn't a penalty. Isn't that the type of dangerous play they want eliminated?

Dangerous only to the teams that would make a lot of money with a deep playoff run.  Which means markets that only make money when they make a deep playoff run.  Minnesota makes money if the team never wins a game.  The fanbase is solid and people fill the X on a week night.   The NHL cares zero if one of the Wild players gets a Dimond Cutter in the boards and is paralyzed.  Fans will still come to see the Wild play.  

Now if someone like Vegas lost a star like that the offending player might be banned from the league and possibly executed.