Article: When Will It Start To Click For David Jiricek?

[Tom Schreier]

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[Citizen Strife]

Guerin dumped Chisholm and Merrill and went to say, "Our D is set.". They gave a PTO to Johnson.  Bogo plays yes, but who has gotten in the games as soon as he got injured?  Not Hunt.  They are going to play Jiricek come hell or high water.  He definitely tries hard, which is way more than Addison ever did.

I am not worried about him.  He's getting his reps, and isn't a complete dumpster fire as was feared.  Joke's on Columbus I suppose.

Spurgeon's got 1-2 years left, and may retire. Barring some crazy move, it is Jiricek's spot to lose.

Edited 2 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[greg]

I agree.  Must play Jiricek full time no matter the results.  It's looking very questionable as to the team making the playoffs this season.  Play him.  Let him learn from mistakes.  The team and especially Jiricek benefit nothing by having him be healthy scratches.  Besides many of our veterans continue to play uninspired hockey.  They make mistakes and appear not to be trying.  Everyone just says too bad.  When a rookie or young player makes the same mistakes hes banished to the press box healthy scratches.  Seems an odd way to build a contending hockey team.

 

[mnfaninnc]

I disagree with Greg a bit on the healthy scratches. My hope is that while sitting with Goligoski, he pointed out things on Spurgeon's shifts all night long. Taking him out to watch from above every now and then isn't a bad thing. However, giving him a string of 5 sits in the Prossbox is not productive. 

Even though Jiricek was drafted 6 overall, he is a large body and those guys take longer to develop especially with their skating. I am convinced that he has always pinched a lot at the blue line and been good enough not to have that get him. He can't now and must unlearn that tendency and this will take time. 

At first, he just has to notice he should have been moving backward. After that he may come back to the bench after his shift talking to himself to retreat. When that starts happening the coaching has gotten through. Then he will start to do it, not always, but inconsistently until he is able to pick his spots. He needs ice time to get this done, not watching from upstairs, unless he gets pulled once in awhile for another Goligoski teaching session.