Almost two years ago, the Minnesota Wild took a swing on David Jiricek. The Wild gave up a haul to acquire the sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft, sending a 2025 first-round pick, 2026 third- and fourth-round picks and a 2027 second-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets but with his physical stature and upside, it was a high-level swing worth taking.
Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out and the Wild threw in the towel when they swapped Jiricek for forward Bobby Brink in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers ahead of last year’s trade deadline. But with a new season and no minor league options remaining, Jiricek had another opportunity to establish himself in the NHL.
It’s only been four games but the latest change of scenery has failed to jumpstart his career. In addition to being a healthy scratch in two games, Jiricek had another rough moment on Monday night, turning over the puck in the defensive zone and getting deked out of his skates in a sequence that led to a Ilya Mikheyev goal late in the 4-1 defeat.
While there’s plenty of time to turn things around, it’s been a consistent theme that already has Jiricek skating on thin ice with the Flyers and his long-term prospects in the NHL.
David Jiricek’s biggest flaw is already showing up with the Flyers
Looking at Jiricek, he has a lot that can lead to a successful career. His size is one thing, but he’s also able to drive offense at a high level. That hasn’t shown up on the stat sheet as he’s managed just two goals and 13 points during his five years bouncing between the Blue Jackets, Wild and Flyers. But it has shown at times during his time in the AHL, including a 2023-24 campaign where he scored seven goals and recorded 19 points in 29 games with the Blue Jackets’ affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.
The issue is that Jiricek hasn’t shown it consistently enough and it’s compounded by his skating ability. According to NHL Edge, Jiricek ranks below the 50th percentile in maximum skating speed (19.22 mph) and busts between 18-to-20 mph on the ice and while it hurts his ability to jump into plays on the offensive end, it’s an even bigger problem on the defensive end.
It’s why Jiricek owns a minus-8 rating in 87 games in the NHL and when discussing the 22-year-old before the season, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet noted he had to do a better job when facing chaotic situations.
“When there’s chaos and a lot of small battles, that’s where he’s got to be a little bit better,” Tocchet told reporters during training camp. “I think that’s what he worked on in the minors: being able to shut down plays in the corner, being able to read a play, basically to shut things down. That’s things we asked him to do. …He’s got some good awareness, but it’s the boxing out and being able to win a battle boxing out; those are the things, you know, he has to find that part in his game.”
That task sounds simple in theory, but is a lot more difficult in the speed of the NHL. Monday was a prime example as Jiricek raced back for a loose puck and blindly threw the puck up ice, hoping a Flyer would be on the receiving end. Instead, it landed on the stick of Lightning forward Pontus Holmberg, who gladly skated into the offensive zone.
Jiricek’s attempt to recover went nowhere as he overskated Holmberg and it led to a pass to Mikheyev, who wrapped around the net and scored the back-breaking goal with three minutes left in the game. It was the type of loud mistake that drowns out any upside Jiricek has and Flyers fans, who are not known for their patience, had already had enough.
“The thing is, we knew this was going to happen,” Thomas Williams of Broad Street Hockey wrote. “Jiricek’s whole thing is that his mistakes are going to be loud and brash and make you want to write a blog specifically about a mistake he made because it makes you baffled as soon as it happens. We knew this. The hope was just that he had enough of an offensive impact that it would outweigh these deafening mistakes and blunders on the other end of the ice.”
The Wild didn’t win the David Jiricek trade, but they nailed his exit
It’s too late for the Wild to say they won a trade, especially since they could use the picks they gave to Columbus to go after the type of impact player they’ve been waiting for all summer. It also wasn’t all bad for Jiricek on Monday night as Williams noted that Jiricek had a good game overall, helping winning the shot attempt battle 14-12 and had 63.25 percent of the expected goals share when he was on the ice at even strength.
But if anything, the Wild may deserve credit for getting out while they could.
Jiricek had fallen behind in the pecking order in Minnesota and even fell behind Daemon Hunt, who was included in the initial deal that helped the Wild acquire Jiricek, but was claimed off waivers at the beginning of last year. It’s also interesting to wonder if Jiricek would have gotten his chance in the wake of Brock Faber’s skull fracture, but it may have had a short leash as he wasn’t trusted enough to get the job done.
In addition, it was beneficial for the Wild to make the deal with the Flyers because of what they have in Brink. While he started off his time in Minnesota quietly, Brink has looked good in the first two games of the season, recording a pair of assists and having a third wiped out due to a goaltender interference call in the season-opening win against the Nashville Predators.
With the Wild needing forward depth, it was a key decision to swap Brink for Jiricek. But it also was getting rid of a player who is running out of chances and is already wearing on the patience of his new team.
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