David Jiricek off to a hot start with the Phantoms

It's been nearly two weeks since the NHL trade deadline, where the Philadelphia Flyers made some peripheral moves sending Nic Deslauriers to the Carolina Hurricanes, swapped some prospects with the Boston Bruins, and claimed Luke Glendening off waivers (Glendening scored his first goal with the Flyers against the Anaheim Ducks last night, too). Those moves were all well and good, but the headline transaction of the day was a deal with the Minnesota Wild, trading Bobby Brink for 22-year old defenseman David Jiricek.

At the time of the trade, we wrote about what to expect from the young right-shot defenseman. In brief, Jiricek has--aside from his Draft+1 season--struggled. He felt he wasn't being treated right with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Wild traded a haul to acquire him. Then, the Wild, a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, didn't have the time or patience to actually develop Jiricek. After the blockbuster acquisition of Quinn Hughes, there was no clear path for Jiricek to stick with the Wild.

After being traded, Jiricek went right to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He's played five games with them, and has scored two goals and tallied four assists, good for six points; he's also taken over and been effective on the top power play unit.

On this power play, Jiricek handles his role on the blue line well, sees an opportunity, skates up into the circles, and rips a shot past the opposing netminder. Those sorts of offensive instincts are a major part of Jiricek's arsenal, and that he's doing it on the power play is a good sign for his future with the Flyers. As we all know too well, the man advantage has been a serious weakness for the Flyers for years, and a guy like Jiricek could be a big help.

If Jiricek keeps playing like this, we could see him in the NHL before the season's over. He'll be owed a new contract in the summer and, more importantly, will no longer be waiver exempt, so he'll almost certainly be with the big club to start next season. It'll be sink or swim for Jiricek, but these early returns show he should be able to keep his head above water with ease.