NHL Trade Ratings: David Jiricek deal is a poor return on investment for the Blue Jackets

Minnesota Wild receives: David Jiricek and a 2025 fifth-round pick

Columbus Blue Jackets received: Daemon Hunt, 2025 first-round pick (top-five protected), 2027 second-round pick, 2026 third-round pick and 2026 fourth-round pick

TRADE ALERT‼️

We acquired D Daemon Hunt and 4 draft picks, including a conditional 2025 first-round pick, from the @mnwild in exchange for D David Jiricek and a 2025 fifth-round pick.

📝 https://t.co/zx5iQQChlM@RuoffMortgage | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/tBF3Y1oP2D

— Colu❌bus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 30, 2024

David Jiricek has struggled to gain the trust of the Blue Jackets coaching staff despite his success at the AHL level. However, he is still a young player with lots of tools and time to develop. He’s very skilled, especially for a big man, and combined with a strong point shot he should provide offense in the NHL. He was an excellent two-way defender at lower levels, although his defense was tested at the NHL level due to his mediocre running speed. I also thought that when Jiricek was at his best, he had a lot of bite to his game, but that part of his game has been more inconsistent lately. I still see a potential top-four defenseman, but I’m much less certain of that prediction than I was a few years ago. I also think it’s fair to question whether Jiricek is truly a top candidate, considering he hasn’t consistently been able to crack a mediocre Columbus lineup.

Daemon Hunt is a mobile defenseman who plays hard and can move pucks well enough. He has played a few NHL games for Minnesota over the last two seasons. I wouldn’t call him the most dynamic player in the world, but coaches will appreciate his level of performance. He projects as a third-pair defender.

I would say the biggest advantage Columbus gets back is the first-rounder over Hunt, even though it’s likely a late first-round pick.

This is a poor return on investment for Columbus after investing the 2022 No. 6 pick in Jiricek. However, the fact that the player wanted out may have hurt his value, along with the fact that some NHL personnel are biased against the player due to his inconsistent play as a professional, and the fact that he left his team in the process seems to have steered in the wrong direction. The athletic one‘s Aaron Portzline believes it was mostly due to Jiricek’s skating problems. In that way, it’s partly similar to the reason Washington traded then-leading candidate Filip Forsberg in 2013, who had aged poorly.

Time will tell whether a change of scenery produces a better Jiricek, like the promising player he was as a draft-eligible and in the season following his draft in which he dominated the AHL and World Junior levels, and whether he adapting to the NHL pace.

Minnesota: B+

Columbus: C+

(Photo: Kirk Irwin / NHLI via Getty Images)