High protection prospect David Jiricek has formally joined the Minnesota Wild, receiving an official call-up after a commerce from the Columbus Blue Jackets positioned him on the AHL Iowa Wild roster. Minnesota made room for Jiricek’s recall by re-assigning fowrard Travis Boyd to the minors. Jiricek will head to the NHL whereas Daemon Hunt, who went the opposite manner within the commerce alongside 4 draft picks, has been assigned to the AHL by Columbus.
Wild head coach John Hynes informed reporters, including Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News, that Jiricek is anticipated to affix the crew’s practices on Monday.
The Minnesota protection has been firing on all cylinders this season. Half of the blue-line has recorded 10-or-more factors on the season, with Jacob Middleton and Brock Faber every tied for the scoring lead with 12 factors in 24 video games. The bunch has supported Minnesota to the perfect goals-against per-game of any crew within the NHL. They permit simply 2.33 goals-against on common, nicely forward of the second-place Winnipeg Jets’ 2.50 common. That standing may make ice time exhausting to search out for Jiricek, who solely has one help in six NHL video games this season. Jiricek is an extremely proficient puck-carrier and earned a commendable 10 factors in 43 video games as a rookie final season. However Jiricek’s affect off of the puck, and total agility, have left so much to be desired — a part of why he’s totaled a -10 via 53 profession video games.
Jiricek gained’t help Minnesota’s pursuit of prime defensive metrics, however his upside as an offensive asset is sky-high. He was drafted sixth total within the 2022 NHL Draft after incomes an on a regular basis position within the Czechia Extraliga at 16. He performed via 67 video games and scored 20 factors, with Plzen HC between 2019 and 2022 — however suffered a long-term, lower-body damage on the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. The damage would deprive Jiricek of 5 months of motion in his draft yr, although he returned with two factors in 4 World Championship video games — simply sufficient to persuade Columbus that he was nonetheless worthy of a top-10 decide.
Jiricek adopted the draft with 4 factors in seven video games on the rescheduled 2022 World Junior Championships and joined the Cleveland Monsters one month later. He was productive as a rookie, netting 38 factors in his first 55 AHL video games — however not managing any scoring via his first 4 NHL video games, ready till 2023-24 to file his first NHL level. Jiricek has continued to carry out nicely within the minors, with 19 factors in 29 AHL video games final yr and three factors in 4 video games this yr, however hasn’t but translated that manufacturing to the highest flight. Minnesota will symbolize a change of surroundings, as long as he can beat out Zach Bogosian, Jonathon Merrill or Declan Chisholm for minutes.
In the meantime, Travis Boyd will return to the minors after two scoreless video games for Minnesota. He’s scored two objectives and 11 factors in 13 video games with the Iowa Wild this season, which nonetheless stands as second on the crew in scoring behind Ben Jones’ 12 factors in 14 video games. Boyd is a prime, veteran presence for Iowa — and will return to a prime position with this task.
