The David Jiricek saga finally came to an end this past weekend. The Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild worked out a deal to send Jiricek and a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Wild in exchange for a top-five protected 2025 first-round pick, a 2027 second-round pick, a 2026 third-round pick, a 2026 fourth-round pick, and defenseman Daemon Hunt.
The Blue Jackets were able to acquire four draft picks and a depth defenseman for Jiricek, which is superb work by GM Don Waddell.
Jiricek was a former top 10 pick by the Blue Jackets back in the 2022 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a clear path to the NHL within Columbus’ system. Which caused frustration for the blue liner.
Oftentimes, NHL teams that trade a top prospect who is ready to play with the big club are left without equal value in return. But Waddell made sure that he could get back another Jiricek style plus more assets through the draft.
If the Blue Jackets players were ever questioning how much the management group cares, this trade should answer the question.
They were able to acquire four NHL draft picks within the first four rounds for a young defence prospect who could not be able to find his game at the NHL level.
This could go down as one of Waddell’s best trades, not only in his career but also during his time as GM of the Blue Jackets.
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