Last Saturday, the Columbus Blue Jackets traded defenseman David Jiricek to the Minnesota Wild. The Philadelphia Flyers were one of the top clubs in the mix for the right-shot defenseman, but they missed him for one major reason.
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According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell preferred to trade Jiricek to the Western Conference and was reluctant to deal him to a Metropolitan Division rival.
Here’s what Friedman said about this during his latest episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast:
“There were some teams in the Eastern Conference that really felt like Waddell preferred not to trade him (Jiricek) around them. They felt he would prefer to trade him out West. I think there was a There were a number of teams in the East that were part of this that were interested, Pittsburgh was one, and those are two teams that are also in Columbus’ own division.”
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Given Jiricek’s significant upside, it’s understandable that Waddell wasn’t interested in trading the right-shot defenseman within the division. That would have made the move much riskier, as they would have often had to deal with Jiricek as an opponent.
Unfortunately, we will now have to wait and see how Jiricek performs from here with the Wild.
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