Article: What Is the Opportunity Cost Of Trading For David Jiříček?

[Tony Abbott]

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[TCMooch]

I'm not high on Jiricek at all. I think if you take away where he was drafted nobody would really care about him at all (which I've stated in the past). He is a dime-a-dozen bottom d-pairing that is easily replaceable. The Wild got absolutely fleeced in this trade so good on CBJ for getting a lot of swings in the next couple of drafts for basically nothing.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

25 minutes ago, TCMooch said:

I'm not high on Jiricek at all. I think if you take away where he was drafted nobody would really care about him at all (which I've stated in the past). He is a dime-a-dozen bottom d-pairing that is easily replaceable. The Wild got absolutely fleeced in this trade so good on CBJ for getting a lot of swings in the next couple of drafts for basically nothing.

He's very playable on the 3rd pairing. He will almost certainly become a high end player for line 3 if that's where he's playing down the road, but he could be a 2nd pairing defenseman like Middleton. Jiricek will likely be worth more than the 20th pick from this draft, especially over the next 4 seasons.

3rd pairing defensemen generally still play a quarter of each game, so he could be worth more than a 3rd or 4th line forward even if he doesn't elevate beyond the 3rd pairing, but there are reasons to believe that he could.

[0 Stanley Cups]

D. Hunt (which ironically we needed due to injuries last year), a 2025 first-round, and say the 2027 second-round pick, but adding a 2026 third- and fourth-round pick in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick definitely seems excessive. 

As long as it works out in the end, I'm a fan of any team identifying someone they specifically want and doing what it takes to get them.  The strategy of 2025 being a weaker draft, and getting a potentially better & older prospect from 2022 is fine with me, the Wild have plenty of young prospects that will need additional time to develop.

[0 Stanley Cups]

Unfortunately, the cost we gave up definitely hindered our abilities this past year at the trade deadline.

[B1GKappa97]

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Are any of those players causing you to feel buyer's remorse on the Jiříček trade?

None at all. Especially when you consider it would likely take 3 or 4 seasons for us to even see them hit the NHL. Jiricek will be here next year or, at the latest, the year after. Full time. 

Its like we gave up the extra picks to get a guy with a shorter timeline to impact for us. I'm absolutely fine with that, personally.

If the goal is to become a Cup contender during Kaprizov's prime then Jiricek fits that window far more than any of these potential draft picks.

[Patrick]

Jiricek looked good when he played with the Wild last year.  If the Wild can improve his skating even a little I think the trade is worth it because his instincts, size, skill and attitude are all missing on the Wild right now. We are too risk averse and Jiricek doesn't mind going for it.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

26 minutes ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

Unfortunately, the cost we gave up definitely hindered our abilities this past year at the trade deadline.

I think less than $2M in cap space hindered the Wild more than a lack of assets.

[Scalptrash]

35 minutes ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

Unfortunately, the cost we gave up definitely hindered our abilities this past year at the trade deadline.

Then and now. Way too lopsided and it took the Wild out of several possibilities this offseason.

[MrCheatachu]

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Are any of those players causing you to feel buyer's remorse on the Jiříček trade? That's up to you. But the field of players the Wild could have picked feels pretty identical to players in the Wild's system already.

WAIT.  HOLD THE FRICKING PHONES...you're telling me we could have had TWO Charlie Stramel's in our farm system?!

Someone grab the tar and feathers, we gots to nail SillyG over this one...

[FredJohnson]

None of these guys are +200 pounds so they’re all busts.

[FredJohnson]

4 hours ago, TCMooch said:

I'm not high on Jiricek at all. I think if you take away where he was drafted nobody would really care about him at all (which I've stated in the past). He is a dime-a-dozen bottom d-pairing that is easily replaceable. The Wild got absolutely fleeced in this trade so good on CBJ for getting a lot of swings in the next couple of drafts for basically nothing.

But he has the size to play in the playoffs!!

[Citizen Strife]

Buium and Jiricek both have opportunities to be better than what the Wild have had for bottom lineup guys for the past couple years.  What I saw from both last year were hungry guys who wanted to make an impression.  The team cannot rely on Bogo, Merrill, and.Chisholm as depth guys if they want to avoid the rough patches that happened when half of the D-corps was out last year.

It's a tall ask to be better than Brodin or Spurgeon.  What the Wild need are guys who can come in and be better than the Mermaid, Dermott, etc guys they have been using elsewhere.