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As the Blues opened their development camp Monday, any chatter about Adam Jiricek’s improvements centered around his availability.

Jiricek, the Blues’ first-round pick in 2024, was limited to just 27 games with Brantford in the OHL last season due to injuries, first due to his recovery from a knee injury that hurt his draft stock, then by two in-season injuries that forced him to miss time. The right-handed defenseman was on the ice Monday in his first development camp with the Blues after missing last season due to a torn ACL.

“I need to stay healthy, and I enjoy that I can play hockey right now,� Jiricek said. “I can do what I like to do. It’s good right now.�

Jiricek, who turned 19 on Saturday, is one of the top prospects the Blues have on defense, joined by 2023 first-rounder Theo Lindstein and 2024 second-rounders Colin Ralph and Lukas Fischer. When the Blues drafted him at No. 16 last year, he became the highest-drafted defenseman by the team since Alex Pietrangelo at No. 4 in 2008.

Jiricek made the jump to North American hockey last season, as the Czech crossed the Atlantic to play in the OHL. He said he likes “it more, to be honest than Euro rinks and Euro style of hockey. It’s very fun, I think.�

“It’s pretty different from the men’s league in Czech Republic I played before,� Jiricek said. “It’s fine, I enjoy it, but I had a couple injuries so it was up and down. It’s hard to build your game when you have this many up and downs. I need to stay healthy for a full season and just build my game. I hope it’s going to be like that next season, so you’ll see.�

In his 27 games, Jiricek had four goals and eight assists.

In December 2023, Jiricek tore his ACL at the World Junior Championship while playing for Czechia when current Blues prospect Juraj Pekarcik (Slovakia) fell on his leg. That injury knocked him out of the remainder of the season, halted his summer program and kept him out of games until a Nov. 1, 2024, debut with Brantford.

“There’s things you can’t control,� Jiricek said. “My injuries were things you can’t control, so you need to accept it and move on. You can’t control if some player falls on your leg and you tear your ACL. It’s unlucky, and that’s hockey. I hope I already have all these injuries and I’m going to stay healthy for the rest of my hockey career. I think it’s just unlucky.�

In his fourth game with Brantford, Jiricek took a big hit crossing the blue line and missed the next five weeks. He also missed two weeks of action in February.

“You’re going to the middle of the ice 100 times and you got injured one time,� Jiricek said. “It’s just hockey, you know?�

Blues management obviously understands the importance of Jiricek’s health to his success. General manager Doug Armstrong said he “can’t make the club from the tub.� Assistant general manager Tim Taylor pointed out that some of Jiricek’s improvement will come from “getting bigger and stronger.�

“I know it’s a redundant question, and answer is: What do these guys need?� Taylor said. “It’s just time and growth within their bodies, maturity. Every year brings a new outlook for these players. Now, he’s building more strength. I think last year he came in at 170 or 165. He was injured a little bit last year.�

Jiricek was present at training camp last fall but wasn’t cleared to play and did not participate in exhibition games. This fall, he’ll have that chance, and Armstrong left open the door for him to play games in the NHL. It would be a big jump, though, as Armstrong has never had a teenaged defenseman play full-time NHL minutes.

Only Robert Thomas and Robby Fabbri have been lineup fixtures as teenagers under Armstrong in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

“He’s going to come in a push for the team, but at 19, I don’t expect him to do it,� Armstrong said. “He could be the next Robert Thomas or Robby Fabbri, I don’t know. That’s up for him to prove.�

Jiricek: “I will go to the camp with this goal, and we will see what happens. I’m going to prepare in the summer to be 100% ready for this opportunity and show what I can do and show how good I am, and we’ll see what happens from there.�

Stancl scores twice

The Blues will finish each of the four development camp sessions this week with a three-on-three scrimmage lasting about 15 minutes. On Monday afternoon, Team MacInnis beat Team Tkachuk 6-0.

Jakub Stancl scored two goals, as Jiricek, Lindstein, Antoine Dorion and Nikita Susuyev also scored.