COLUMBUS, Ohio — After a week of swirling rumors, according to Blue Jackets and Wild sources, the Columbus Blue Jackets traded defenseman David Jiricek, one of the NHL’s top prospects, to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a package that includes blue line prospect Daemon Hunt and draft picks Saturday.
The draft picks have not yet been confirmed.
Hunt, 22, the Wild’s most NHL-ready defense prospect, was supposed to play Saturday afternoon against the Checkers but was pulled from the lineup just before the game.
Jiricek, who turned 21 years old on Thursday, was selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, but his awkward skating and erratic play kept him from grabbing a lineup spot under three different Blue Jackets coaches, including current bench boss Dean Evason.
The Blue Jackets had demoted Jiricek last week to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters after he’d appeared in only six of Columbus’ games this season. In those six games, Jiricek averaged only 11 minutes, 14 seconds of ice time.
GM Don Waddell, who joined the Blue Jackets in late May, and Evason, who came aboard a month later, provided Jiricek a fresh start in his third pro season. While it hasn’t been contentious, as it was last season, Jiricek and the organization remain at loggerheads over his NHL readiness.
Jiricek and his camp have felt since last season that he was ready for a prominent role in the NHL — top-four ice time, a spot on the power play, etc. The Blue Jackets have given him chances to grab a lineup spot, but his defensive reads and clumsy skating have relegated him to the third pair — and often to the press box as a healthy scratch.
Unable to see eye to eye, the two opted to part ways, but Waddell wasn’t going to simply accept the best offer for Jiricek and move forward. The Blue Jackets have been in that spot before with Pierre-Luc Dubois, Patrik Laine and others, but that wasn’t the case here.
Waddell wasn’t trading Jiricek until he heard the right trade offer, some combination of prospect(s) and pick(s) that he felt was commensurate with Jiricek’s value. After several days of listening to offers, making counteroffers, etc., the Wild finally met the bar on Hunt and a bunch of picks.
Why does this make sense for the Wild?
Brock Faber’s eight-year extension kicks in next season. While the Wild still have right-shot defenseman David Spacek — the son of former Blue Jackets defenseman Jaroslav Spacek — in the pipeline, the opportunity to add a prospect as highly decorated as Jiricek was too good of a chance to pass up. The Wild envision Faber, 22, and Jiricek, 21, on the right side in the top four for a decade-plus. In essence, they are planning for life after Jared Spurgeon, the Wild captain and 15-year vet who was limited to 16 games last season due to shoulder, hip and back injuries and has two years left on his contract after this season.
All teams covet right shots, and Jiricek is a two-way defenseman with a heavy shot who plays hard and will bring much-needed size to a blue line that doesn’t have a ton of it. While mobility has long been his weakness, the Wild believe their skating expert, Andy Ness, could do wonders for him. Jiricek is a decorated junior player with lots of international experience and success. He was named the best defenseman of the 2023 World Junior Championship, helping lead Czechia to a silver medal. In a league that’s awfully unkind to teenage defensemen, Jiricek had 38 points in 55 games in his first year pro with AHL Cleveland in 2022-23 and helped lead the Monsters to the Eastern Conference final last season with 11 points in 14 games.
Jiricek’s camp accepts that he may begin his Wild career in Iowa. While it shouldn’t be long before the Wild make room for him on the big club, he has barely played this year (six NHL games and a four-game stint in Cleveland where he has scored two goals and an assist) and the Wild may want him to get his game in order in the minors. Of course, with Jonas Brodin hurt, the Wild will need to tap into an extra defenseman and Hunt was their top recall candidate. — Michael Russo, Wild beat reporter
What are the Blue Jackets getting in Hunt?
Wild coach John Hynes has said since the start of training camp that Hunt was ready for the NHL. They just couldn’t get him in the lineup because of seven defensemen on NHL contracts ahead of him. He played one game earlier this season.
He’s a smart, mobile, left-shot defenseman with size.
On Nov. 13, Hunt told The Athletic, “I want to be in the NHL, simple as that. But everyone’s path is different, and right now mine is to be in the American League. Time will tell, but I’m hoping someday I’ll be here full-time. But right now everybody’s playing well and the team’s winning, which is great to see.” — Michael Russo, Wild beat reporter
Hunt played 12 games last season for the Wild with one assist.
Required reading
- Why the Blue Jackets may trade David Jiricek, and what would they seek in return?
- Why the Wild are in hot pursuit of Blue Jackets defense prospect David Jiricek
- Blue Jackets can’t continue on current development path with David Jiricek
(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
