Article: Playing David Jiricek Might Solve Multiple Problems For the Wild

[Tony Abbott]

View full article

[Imyourhuckleberry]

I feel like the best pairing for Jiricek is Brodin, so it sucks that he's out.

I think everyone is anxious to see Jiricek again, but the Wild have been playing pretty solid defense recently(only 2 goals against per game on average in March), so I can understand some hesitancy to add in the young player who needs work. The don't have a ton of margin for error, particularly against a team like Colorado.

Hopefully they'll get Jiricek some ice team down the stretch though.

[RedLake]

The Wild have Merril they don't need Jiricek. 

Edited March 13 by RedLake

[Sam]

2 hours ago, RedLake said:

The Wild have Merril they don't need Jiricek. 

And buy one get one..

[walt]

He's not a rookie

[Patrick]

Agree on every point. Either BOGO or Merrill should be sitting.   This makes no sense. Either play him or send him back to Iowa 

[RedLake]

Bogo and Merril can sit. Jiricek is the 6 Dman. He'll be top 4 before mid season next year.

[Dis-allowed display name]

18 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

 

I think everyone is anxious to see Jiricek again, but the Wild have been playing pretty solid defense recently(only 2 goals against per game on average in March),

Their games have been pretty boring since they generate no offense at all, but lately it does look like the whole team is playing hard.  There have been droughts with lousy, lazy play, but it seems now it is hard working and fruitless, so we got that going for us.

Edited March 14 by Dis-allowed display name

[MNCountryLife]

Jiricek over Merrill...definitely!

[Pablo]

He is young and has to know that the vets are playing first. He just needs to work on his skills and be ready when its time to GO!

[MCHockey]

Watching Bogo and Merill continue to give up goals and not drive offense is beyond painful. At some point in the next month I would like a Midds - Faber, Chisholm - Spurge, & Brodin - Jiricek.

A lot needs to take place for that to happen, but one can wish. When Jiricek has played this year his ability to create offense has been notable. He needs some work in the D-zone, but having Brodin by his side should be a nice help as he acclimates. Not playing him the last 2 weeks is just silly, but I want to say tonight would have only been his 3rd AHL game in that stretch. They haven't had many games since his recall so maybe getting him used to the big club while working with Ness isn't a bad thing. 3-4 AHL games or work with the NHL coaches? 

[Up North Guy]

Looks like he isn't in the lineup again tonight. This has to be frustrating for the kid. My other concern is what Russo was reporting in the Athletic about Faber running out of gas from overwork. That is when stress injuries happen and bad habits get started.

[greg]

Like a lot of things with the Wild over tge past several weeks the handling of Jiricek is very confusing.  If the decision is not to play him in the NHL then why don't we have someone up here who can?  The team needs help.  They are playing boring listless hockey too often lately.  What have you got to lose putting him in there?  He can't be as bad as some of the clowns in there now.  And as huge it is to be without Kaprisov and Sanek it sure is showing that this team isn't nearly as deep as Guerin says it is.  Yes losing a couple of your best players is awful but no one is stepping up to help carry the team.  IF they make the playoffs they won't last long.  Even Kaprisov can't save them when so many other players regularly don't show up to play.

[Enforceror]

I'm starting to wonder if this is a structure/system issue. Totally normal for players to have cold/hot streaks but NOBODY is scoring. I'm hearing a lot about playing defensively (in player interviews), which I don't disagree with but we have to start getting goals in the net. This just isnt working.

[1Brotherbill]

Brodin is skating so he might be back this week.  Then they can move some people around in the D rotation.  They don't' trust Jiricek right now.  Not because he isn't skilled.  It's because he has been playing in four different systems in the past six months.  Two in Columbus and two in Minnesota, I know the clubs say they run their minor league teams like the big league teams but we know that isn't the case.  Having him practice and be where he is supposed to be is better than him not being where he is supposed to be during a game that counts.

17 games and 8 points right now.  This isn't the time to experiment with a new defenseman.  That being said when Denver is done I bet someone will be plugged right into the lineup without a question. 

[RedLake]

If Jiricek doesn't play tonight and Pylon gets lit up I'll laugh as usual. Let's go Merril!!!

[MacGyver]

11 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

They don't' trust Jiricek right now. 

I doubt Jiricek is enjoying playing for Billy right now. Or better said NOT playing for Billy. This was the source of his dissatisfaction when Billy picked him up. Not getting playing minutes. What are we waiting for?  Is this another example of player mismanagement? Can't upset the line up because we are on the verge of a long playoff run and possibly hoisting the Cup at Xcel! This is a large part of the reason why I fail to get excited about the supposed high end prospect pool we are said to have. 

Billy keeps them on the shelf like a shiny new toy he doesn't want to get scratched up. Meanwhile everyone has them all penciled on the first or second line.  I doubt we will ever see the Wallstedt we thought we were getting because Billy has mind effed him so bad . You see or hear nothing of him any more. He has vaporized as much as Kaprizov has. 

Edited March 17 by MacGyver

[Up North Guy]

4 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Billy keeps them on the shelf like a shiny new toy he doesn't want to get scratched up. Meanwhile everyone has them all penciled on the first or second line.  I doubt we will ever see the Wallstedt we thought we were getting because Billy has mind effed him so bad . You see or hear nothing of him any more. He has vaporized as much as Kaprizov has. 

And if they were added to the roster and played poorly because they were not ready, many on here would scream and holler about rushing kids too fast.

[Enforceror]

33 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

And if they were added to the roster and played poorly because they were not ready, many on here would scream and holler about rushing kids too fast.

Ala Ohgren? We can armchair GM all we want. The fact is, this is a professional sports team in the most prestigious league in the world. Watching the team on tv allows us surface observations and nothing more. All the Billy hate that goes on here overlooks the fact that there is an entire staff of people that have full-time jobs scouting, calc'ing finances, developing players, etc. Are we getting the results we want? No. But we're competing with 31 other teams that are trying to do the same thing. It's pretty naive to think that the staff (not just Billy) are not concerned with winning or consistently make bone-headed decisions on players who we don't get to watch outside 82 games. Without a doubt, there are reasons why Jiricek isn't playing. We are just not privy to that knowledge. I'm not saying Billy is the best GM or we have the best organization in hockey, just that it is DIFFICULT to win a cup and constantly railing against decisions based on our extremely limited knowledge is kind of silly IMO.

To put in perspective, consider the job you yourself have. If you deal with the public regularly, there are always going to be people that want to complain and talk about how this or that could be better. The reality is, they have no idea how the inner workings of said job operate and are not informed enough to accurately judge based on their outside perspective. I work construction and constantly deal with people who nothing about it and will make complaints about noise, parking inconveniences, etc. The fact is, they don't understand that we have a job to do and these "woeful events" are necessary to achieve a final product.

For instance, I could have a job done during evening hours so that the public is not impacted. The reality is sometimes there isn't enough money in the budget to pay people to work nights so it's done during the day so the needed improvements can be afforded. Maybe that extra money goes towards wage increases or bonuses. 

TLDR: There are a lot of moving parts and we don't get to see the whole picture from our comfy couch.

[Pewterschmidt]

17 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Brodin is skating so he might be back this week.  Then they can move some people around in the D rotation.  They don't' trust Jiricek right now.  Not because he isn't skilled.  It's because he has been playing in four different systems in the past six months.  Two in Columbus and two in Minnesota, I know the clubs say they run their minor league teams like the big league teams but we know that isn't the case.  Having him practice and be where he is supposed to be is better than him not being where he is supposed to be during a game that counts.

17 games and 8 points right now.  This isn't the time to experiment with a new defenseman.  That being said when Denver is done I bet someone will be plugged right into the lineup without a question. 

This is the post of the day IMO

[Thatoneguy]

1 hour ago, Enforceror said:

To put in perspective, consider the job you yourself have.

If I performed at my job with the same level of success GMBG has been doing at his job, I would he fired in a week. 

[Scalptrash]

Another Klingberg. Is he an asset or a liability?

[Enforceror]

18 minutes ago, Thatoneguy said:

If I performed at my job with the same level of success GMBG has been doing at his job, I would he fired in a week. 

Different levels of success for different professions. Consider the weatherman...

[Scalptrash]

On 3/16/2025 at 1:14 PM, Enforceror said:

I'm starting to wonder if this is a structure/system issue. Totally normal for players to have cold/hot streaks but NOBODY is scoring. I'm hearing a lot about playing defensively (in player interviews), which I don't disagree with but we have to start getting goals in the net. This just isnt working.

This is usually around the time of year when they get burnt out from having to put effort in. W/O any good, healthy scorers to carry the load, they are exposed. It would be significantly worse if it weren't for Gus.....sometimes.

[1Brotherbill]

12 hours ago, MacGyver said:

I doubt Jiricek is enjoying playing for Billy right now. Or better said NOT playing for Billy. This was the source of his dissatisfaction when Billy picked him up. Not getting playing minutes. What are we waiting for?  Is this another example of player mismanagement? Can't upset the line up because we are on the verge of a long playoff run and possibly hoisting the Cup at Xcel! This is a large part of the reason why I fail to get excited about the supposed high end prospect pool we are said to have. 

Billy keeps them on the shelf like a shiny new toy he doesn't want to get scratched up. Meanwhile everyone has them all penciled on the first or second line.  I doubt we will ever see the Wallstedt we thought we were getting because Billy has mind effed him so bad . You see or hear nothing of him any more. He has vaporized as much as Kaprizov has. 

OK, Billy is not the coach.  He is the General Manager and President of hockey operations.  What does that mean?  Means he makes decisions on who is in St. Paul based on the Salary Cap and contract status.  If Jiricek isn't playing it is because Hynes is not seeing something in practice.  If he could play better than Bogo or Merrill he would be out there.  Since he is not he must not be showing that he can be trusted more than those two.