Jiricek vs. Nemec: The Flyers Could Pick A Stud Defenseman At No. 5

The 2022 NHL Draft is just two weeks away. And the Philadelphia Flyers are sitting pretty, with the fifth-overall pick.

If the Flyers hang onto that selection, assistant general manager Brent Flahr believes there will be some quality options available.

“I think it’s been well-documented, there’s no Connor McDavids in the draft or whatnot,” Flahr told Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “But there is some depth early in the draft. There’s different positions — there’s a few centermen, there’s a couple of right-shot defensemen with skill and size, there’s a couple of scoring right wingers, there’s a power winger.

“There are some interesting players early. I think it’s going to be a really interesting first round. … It’s going to be surprising I think to a lot of people, I think there could be a lot of surprises in the early going of this draft.”

These days, it’s standard procedure for most teams to draft the best player available when their turn comes around. But if everything else is equal, organizational needs by position can still come into play.

And the Flyers are thin on the right side of their defense.

According to CapFriendly, the only designated righties on the roster for next season are Rasmus Ristolainen and Ronnie Attard. Nick Seeler is also returning, and can play both sides. Natural lefty Cam York took some turns on the right last season. And of course, it’s hoped that Ryan Ellis will return to action after missing nearly all of last season due to injury.

The draft-eligible “right-shot defensemen with skill and size” that Flahr mentions are almost certainly David Jiricek and Simon Nemec. Both have consistently been ranked highly on draft boards.

They won’t be ready to jump straight to the NHL, but either could be a solid fit in Philadelphia.

David Jiricek

Early in the season, Jiricek was generally seen as the prospect with more upside. Listed at 6’3″ and 189 pounds, Jiricek was in his second season with Plzen in the Czech men’s league. Known for his size, his efficient skating and a big shot that goes along with solid offensive instincts, he was ranked fourth among European skaters on NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings.

But Jiricek suffered a draft-year setback at the brief World Junior Championship in Edmonton at the end of 2021, when he sustained a knee injury. That put a big question mark on his status going forward.

He was able to return to action at the men’s World Championship in May, getting into five games and averaging 10:28 of ice time.

Seattle Kraken director of amateur scouting Robert Kron told The Athletic that Jiricek “did not miss a beat.” He scored in the Czechs’ first game, a win over Great Britain, and picked up an assist in their 5-3 loss to Sweden.

He did see his ice time diminish as the tournament wore on. That seemed to happen primarily after Michal Kempny was added to the roster once his Washington Capitals were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Despite missing the second half of the regular season, Jiricek maintained his position at No. 4 among European skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings. Elite Prospects ranks him No. 2 overall, and their consolidated ranking of 13 draft ranking services places him at — yep — No. 5.

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Simon Nemec

Listed at 6’0″ and 199 pounds, Simon Nemec is one of two top-flight prospects coming out of Slovakia this year, along with power forward Juraj Slafkovsky.

Nemec is two and a half months younger than Jiricek — he didn’t turn 18 until February. But back in 2021, he played for Slovakia at both the World Junior Championship and the men’s World Championship. Then, he was part of the Slovak team that won gold at the Winter Olympics in Beijing last February. And he returned to men’s worlds, where he had six points in eight games this year.

Like Jiricek, Nemec played his second full pro season in his home country in 2021-22. A strong skater who’s best-known for his slick passing, he put up a goal and 25 assists in the regular season for his club, Nitra. Then, he exploded for five goals and 12 assists in 19 playoff games.

“Everybody talks about the hockey sense and the playmaking ability,” said Kron, who also praised Nemec’s competitive fire. “The question marks are with his defense. He is a very smart kid. If you watch him play, his body positions are really good and that is very difficult to do.”

NHL Central Scouting ranked Nemec No. 6 among European skaters at mid-term, but elevated him to No. 3 in the final rankings — one slot ahead of Jiricek. Elite Prospects ranks him four spots lower than Jiricek, at No. 6, but their consolidated rankings puts him higher, at No. 4.

Who Has The Edge?

Because they both played at the World Championship in May, neither Jiricek nor Nemec took part in the NHL Scouting Combine earlier this month in Buffalo. So we don’t have any fitness-testing results to analyze for these two blueliners.

With the information that is available, it appears that the differential between these two players is razor thin. Both Jiricek and Nemec are highly skilled and have the potential to become impact defensemen at the NHL level.

In a perfect world, they follow in the footsteps of Moritz Seider. The Detroit Red Wings’ surprise pick at No. 6 in 2019 just took home the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year at age 21.

Seider’s development path was complicated by the pandemic. He spent his 18-year-old season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2019-20. Then, he played 41 games with Rogle in Sweden last year before making his Red Wings debut last October.

Both Jiricek and Nemec are likely to follow similar timelines. But like Seider, they both could play in the AHL as 18-year-olds, because they’re coming over from Europe.

If Flahr and Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher do decide to draft one of these rearguards, they could install him in Lehigh Valley immediately. That would help the player begin his adjustment to the North American game, and allow the club to manage the development of a top prospect from just a couple of hours down the road.