Yahoo Sports The Columbus Blue Jackets Have 55 Days Until Opening Night At Nationwide Arena: David Jiříček
Yesterday marked 55 days until opening night in Columbus.
David Jiříček was taken 6th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and some experts think the Jackets got lucky by getting him. Šimon Nemec and Jiříček were expected to be the first two defensemen taken in the draft, but with Nemec going second, that opened the door for the Blue Jackets to get their guy. Had it not been for an injury to Jiříček at the World Juniors, he may have gone second to the New Jersey Devils. Instead, he was taken by the CBJ, and we got to witness him kiss the crest of his Columbus Blue Jackets jersey.
Jiříček made his North American debut in 2022 when he started the season for the Cleveland Monsters. He played in 55 games for the Monsters, scoring 6 goals and having a total of 38 points. He also chipped in four powerplay goals. He was named to the AHL All-Star team, named Rookie of the Month in December 2022, and was also named to the AHL Top Prospects team after the season.
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Jiříček was called up a couple of times during the season due to injuries. The first time was on October 28th, when he would make his NHL debut against the Boston Bruins, and then two days later he would play again against the New Jersey Devils. He averaged 15 minutes of ice time and failed to register a point.
He would play in Cleveland until April 8th when he was called up again. On that day he would play against the New York Rangers, and then a few days later he played another game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Again, he failed to gain a point but would see his ice time swell to an average of 20:30. Regardless of whether he scored a point, getting valuable NHL experience can’t be discounted for the young Jiříček.
During this summer, the Jackets made a couple of highly publicized moves to bring in Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson. These moves coupled with comments made by GM Jarmo Kekäläinen saying that they were in no hurry to bring Jiříček up to Columbus, fueled the idea, and a popular one, that they did not want to rush Jiříček up. Plus, they had all the injured players coming back as well, so staying in Cleveland was the right move.
The 2023-24 season was a tumultuous one for the young Czech. He wasn't on the opening night roster for the Blue Jackets, sparking much debate by people who follow the team. After missing opening night, he was immediately recalled from AHL Cleveland on October 13th to make his season debut on the 14th.
He was sent back to Cleveland on November 11th and then recalled two days later. He was in Columbus until January 18th when he was reassigned to AHL Cleveland. On January 21st he was recalled by Columbus once again but then sent back to Cleveland just four days later. This is the up-and-down part of the season that caused a bit of drama. He was reportedly very upset and there were rumors of him being unhappy.
He was with Columbus for a short time in March until he was again sent back to Cleveland on March 23rd. On April 2nd Jiříček was called for the final time. He played in the Jackets' final 7 games of the season before being sent to Cleveland, along with the rest of the Monsters who were in Columbus, to finish out the Cleveland season.
Jiříček ended up playing in 43 games for Columbus last season. He scored a single goal and had 10 assists. For Cleveland, he played in 29 games in total, scoring 7 goals and totaling 19 points in the regular season. Jiříček took off in the playoffs though, scoring 3 goals and adding 8 assists in 14 playoff games.
People think that David Jiříček will be with Columbus this next season, and that might be the case. They got rid of Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist during the off-season but traded for Jordan Harris and brought Jack Johnson in during free agency. The blue line looks to feature Werenski, Severson, Provorov, Gudbranson, Johnson, Harris, and Jiříček. It's easy to see that the young duo of Jiříček and Harris could be both rotating in and out of the lineup.
It feels like David Jiříček has been with Columbus for years, but he's only played 47 regular-season games for the CBJ. Will the 2024-25 season be the one where the talented young Czech takes the next step?
What do you think? Please share your thoughts on our forum.
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